Did you know that Facebook can be a great way to connect with your extended family? I found that out last year when over the span of a few months, quite a few of my husband’s aunts, uncles and cousins joined Facebook and I received friend requests from them. A few months later, I began to get friend requests from some of my relatives, including an uncle, aunt, and cousin that I have not seen in years.
For some reason, Facebook has been able to capture the interest of both young people and adults of all ages. This makes it a great platform for families to use to connect with each other because it is accessible to all of the generations except the very youngest.
Thanks to Facebook, I am able to stay in touch with my extended family a lot more than if we were to rely solely on the telephone or snail mail. Especially since I’m more than just a little busy these days. If it is 2 a.m. and I’m thinking of Aunt Betsy, I can send her a note to say hello. If it’s the middle of the day and most of the family is at work, but I have a free moment because my son is napping, I can upload the latest batch of baby photos and everyone can see them when they get home later that day.
I plan to use my family connections on Facebook to help me research my son’s family tree. When I need information about one of his ancestors, I can send a message to the person or people that I think might have the information that I need. The person that I have sent the message to can then reply to the message at their convenience. I am one of those people that really does not like to feel like they are imposing on anyone, so the whole “please reply to my request at your convenience” thing works really well for me.
For those of you that are pursuing genealogy as a hobby, there are Facebook groups that you can join that cater to genealogy enthusiasts. You can use Facebook to invite your relatives to family gatherings. I imagine that I have only explored a few of the many ways that Facebook can be a useful tool to connect family members and share family history information. Have you used Facebook to connect with your relatives or find out more about your family history?