Those of us who have genealogy blogs are more likely to rephrase the question as “Why shouldn’t I have a genealogy blog?” since many of us could not imagine pursuing our own genealogy research without one. If you were to ask any person currently blogging about either their own genealogy or the genealogy industry, you would probably hear the following:
• Researching: each week there are stories about genealogists breaking down brick walls (some which have been in existence for 40 years!) simply by posting information in their genealogy blog and having a search engine like Google pick it up for others to find.
• Sharing: my family can’t understand the research data in my genealogy database or notebooks. I can present family history information in small snippets on my genealogy blog.
• Connecting: I personally have located cousins simply because I have a genealogy blog. Some are cousins related to me going back eight or nine generations through a common ancestor. Others are first cousins about whom I had no information until they found my genealogy blog and tracked me down.
• Writing: having a genealogy blog has helped me improved by writing style and it has helped me put dates, facts and figures into a readable format for me to share with family members.
• Marketing: genealogy companies and especially genealogy societies leverage the social media power of blogs to publicize products and events.
• Involving: many geneabloggers have found new ways of connecting with fellow genealogists through their genealogy blogs. Some of us are newly retired and are looking to build upon our genealogy hobby. Others are limited – either due to geographical isolation or physical limitations – in the opportunities to connect with other genealogists in person.
• Relieving: some of us are looking for a creative outlet due to either stressful job situations or family events which have brought about pain and turmoil. I can vouch for this myself: in dealing with my mother’s early onset Alzheimer’s Disease I felt the need to create a documentation of her memories about my family history. While I hoped to simply create a genealogy blog that others might find useful, I received so much more from a great community of bloggers.
• Giving: some genealogy blogs are set up to “give back” to the larger genealogy community in the form of education and research.
© 2009, copyright Thomas MacEntee
