1. Crowdsourcing through Social Media and Niche Forums
Leverage the power of collective knowledge by posting family names, locations, or intriguing stories on platforms like Reddit, Twitter, or Facebook groups dedicated to genealogy. Extend your reach by joining niche online forums focusing on specific regions, ethnic groups, or historical professions. This approach taps into a vast network of people who may share connections or possess access to rare records.
Pros:
- Access to a wide network of potential collaborators and experts.
- Potential to uncover rare or unexpected connections.
- Often free and relatively quick to implement.
Cons:
- Information quality can vary and requires verification.
- Privacy concerns when sharing family details online.
- May result in overwhelming responses that are hard to filter.
In case you’re wondering, this is the first response, raw and completely unedited, in an experiment with ChatGPT. I prompted it with “Suggest a disruptive approach or five to investigating your family history. Please add pros and cons for each of the five items.” Share your thoughts please.
Social media is a vital tool in my armoury. Not only relatives may have access to these groups – and you can contact them directly – but also many of the Towns, villages, cities and counties have groups being covered with residents uploading information on those area giving a better understanding of its history, such as photos and postcards.
I have made many contacts through these groups but I have never found the appeals or sharing of information overwhelming, quite the contrary.
Many genealogists and historians share their news research and tips on groups and forums too. Well worth following in order not to miss vital information to take your research forward.