Genealogy Social Networking Day 8 - Forums

Forums and Message boards can do a lot in your research by asking for help. You can ask for information about an ancestor, a location, and even a genealogy product. It may take some time to get answers though. And many forums and message boards are not a frequently used in the past couple years.
Many family tree websites have forums or message boards. One of the better known ones is Ancestry, who also owns the Rootsweb message boards. Cyndi's List has a list of links for various other message boards and query sites.
This can be a great resource to look into because the boards are organized and searchable. Even if it isn't an active board you can often look through past messages and queries and find information.

Genealogy Social Networking Day 7 - Google+

I use Blogger as my blogging platform, which makes it super easy to post everything to Google+. I know that many people don't use Google+ as regularly or at all, but there is actually quite an active genealogy community there. It is definitely worth looking into.

There are several large genealogy groups on Google+ that can keep you updated with news and information as well as just connecting with others who share your hobby/passion. For example, DearMYRTLE has a great group with over 2,500 members, and also links directly to Google Hangouts that happen regularly.

On it you can post and share updates, like Twitter, but it also has better connecting features for social purposes, like Facebook. The photo tagging is better, has great privacy controls, a nice app, and it integrates other google services, so switching over to your gmail or a search are super easy.

You can follow different people and put them into various 'circles', so your family and your genealogists can see different posts (since much of the family won't want to know about some random genealogy news). Or put people into more than one circle so, for example, my dad can be in family and genealogy. You can have as many different circles as you want, and put as many people in each circle as you want. Also, you can just look at the posts from each of your circles separately, so if you just want to see genealogy posts, you can go to your genealogy circle and just see those.

Are you on Google+ yet? Follow me!

Genealogy Social Networking Day 6 - Blogs

Blogs can serve many purposes. Some blogs have tutorials for genealogy research, updates on the latest news and products in the industry, or family stories. That last item is what can truly connect genealogists on a personal level. That is also 'cousin bait'.

In my blog I focus mostly on telling my own family history. I include as many names and dates as I can so that when people do a search for a name, place, or date I might show up. Then people doing genealogy research on the same family can connect with me and we can share information and resources.

It is from my blog that I pin things to pinterest, post things on facebook, connect to other blogs (like No Story Too Small for the 52 Ancestors project), and use other forms of social networking. This is my 'home base' on the web for my genealogy.

One of the first things I did after starting my blog was get it listed on GeneaBloggers. It's a great site that keeps a running list of genealogy blogs. You can search the list for various topics or locations. Most are personal family tree blogs like mine. Also on the site are blogging helps, topic suggestions, and other genealogy news. I have found many great blogs to follow from this site.

How do you use blogging to connect with others?

52 Ancestors Week 40 - Joseph Piraux

Henri Joseph Francois Piraux was born on October 11, 1841, in Glimes, Belgium. He was the oldest of 10 children born to Jean Joseph Piraux and Adelaide Francoise Hellin. 
He married Marie Chirese Paris on October 25, 1865, in Glimes, Belgium They had seven children. At some point between 1880 and 1890 they moved to Chatelineau in the Hainaut Province of Belgium.

*****
Parents
Jean Joseph Piraux 1811–?
Francoise Hellin 1817–?

Siblings
Marie Josephine Adelaide Piraux 1843–?
Melanie Marie Piraux 1845–?
Louis Justin Piraux 1848–?
Emile Francois Piraux 1849–?
Ferdinand Eugene Piraux 1851–?
Euphrasie Flore Piraux 1854–?
Charles Joseph Piraux 1856–?
Alfred Jean Baptiste Piraux 1858–?
Louis Camille Piraux 1860–?

Spouse
Marie Chirese Paris 1848–1890

Children
Camille Joseph Piraux 1866–?
Marcellin Eugene Joseph Piraux 1868–?
Emile Francois Joseph Piraux 1871–1929
Marie Flore Piraux 1873–1873
Flore Elisa Piraux 1875–1877
Auguste Joseph Piraux 1877–?
Helene Adeline Joseph Piraux 1880–?

Genealogy Social Networking Day 5 - Pinterest

I have been using Pinterest for years. But only in the past year or so have I used it for genealogy. Pinterest is a visual 'pin board' where you can save pictures and links. Many people use it to save cool pictures, craft related links, and recipes. But, it's also a great place to save bookmarks of all kinds. You can upload your own photos too, not just pin ones you find online.

You can use it for inspiration for scrapbook pages or family trees. Pin tips for research or free genealogy forms. You can pin local history articles, family stories and photos, tombstones, links you find helpful in your research, and just about anything else you can think of.

One of the perks of Pinterest is that you can access it from anywhere. You don't have to have your computer with it's web browser bookmarks with you. And you can have as many different boards as you want, with any title or theme you want. You can repin the same link or photo to multiple boards as well.

Another great thing is the social networking. You can follow other genealogists, repin things you find in a search, comment on any of the pins, and even collaborate with group boards. With a group board you can have multiple people pinning to it with the same topic in mind. This is great for connecting to existing family or with other genealogists interested in the same areas of research.

Speaking of types of boards, you can make a board that includes a map. You can attach pins to specific locations on that map. This is great for family history. You can upload a photo (or pin one from the web), give it a description that pertains to your history, attach it to a place on the map, and basically create an interactive map of your genealogy complete with photos and links.

There are many genealogists on Pinterest already, even 'big name' bloggers like AnceStories and GeneaBloggers. If you search for "genealogy" you will tons of pins, which can be overwhelming. So be sure to click over to 'boards' under the search to find people with whole boards dedicated to genealogy of various kinds.

Have fun pinning (it can be addictive)!