Twitter for Genealogy

If you are not yet using Twitter for genealogy, now is the time to start. And the cool aspect of Twitter is that you can use it to connect with family, friends and folks in your other hobby interests all at the same time. And all in 140 character micro-blog posts called “tweets” that make connecting quick and easy.

So how can you possibly learn very much in 140-character postings about genealogy or family history? The key is to combine a sentence or meaningful phrase with a link to a Web site that might be your blog or genealogy resources you recommend.

You’ll get many ideas for research from other genealogists on Twitter. You’ll enjoy other researchers’ success stories or learn of their brickwalls. Today Dick Eastman shared his success story using DNA to confirm his connection to the Roger Eastman who arrived in Massachusetts in 1638.

And you’ll get updates on genealogy news. The new genealogy social network called GenealogyWise was out on Twitter from the day it was available to join — and spurred a flood of new members. [Meet me via my page at GenealogyWise.]

One helpful resource that Twitter genealogists share are listings of top or favorite family history research tools and Web sites. One individual just shared the list of 89 Genealogy Resources at the well known RefDesk site. While many of the resources are well known, there’s bound to be something new to help my research. And perhaps yours as well.

And you can participate in Surname Saturday, posting the surnames you’re researching and where they were from, to connect with others researching to same names.

To get started, head over to http://twitter.com/ and click on Get Started – Join! Choose a user name [it will appear in all of your tweets] and password. Then join the fun, finding others on Twitter to “follow” to get their messages.

I post about geneaology and family history, so would love to have you follow me at  http://twitter.com/BBPetura.

Then use the Twitter advanced search here that you can find here: http://search.twitter.com/advanced and put the word genealogy in the space called Hashtag. Up will come all the recent “tweets” about the subject that have #genealogy in them.  You also can search using the #familyhistory hashtag.

Pick a few folks to follow by clicking on their name — and then click the Follow box under their picture. Your home page will immediately have the most recent messages from everyone you follow. Enjoy reading and then posting ideas and resources you want to share. Soon you’ll have some people following you too. Enjoy!

This is one in a series of genealogy and family history research articles to help you find your family and ancestors, often for modest or no cost.