The following guest post is written by Judith Sanders.
FamilySearch, the largest genealogy organization worldwide, recently announced the addition of new features that will make the work of tracing a family tree even easier. The features are specifically geared to family historians that want to preserve their ancestry through genealogy research. The organization is hoping to broaden their appeal to those conducting searches for personal reasons, rather than restricting the service to genealogists, researchers and historians.
Allowing for Collaboration
One of the new features now available at FamilySearch is Family Tree, a collaborative function that allows members to work together from locations across the globe to build a family tree. Individuals can share information about themselves and their family members to expand the database of files available. Currently Family Tree boasts more than 900 million records, all contributed by members that found their information through FamilySearch and other online services like archives.com, recordsbase.com and ancestry.com.
Another feature allows family members to come together through social media, sharing stories and photos of the family with one another. Dubbed Photos and Stories, this feature allows a user to upload a story and photo, which allows other family members to make contributions to the entry as well. For example, individuals in photos can be identified and tagged, to enrich the family history for everyone who views the pages on Family Tree.
Additional Features Make Genealogy Fun
FamilySearch has also added features to make the construction of a family tree as fun and creative as possible. The Fan Chart is an interactive, colorful function that allows family members to use a fan chart to document their ancestry. Another tool that helps users construct a rich, colorful family tree is the Family Tree Wizard. This feature offers a list of questions that provides a framework for your family tree.
Live Help is another feature recently added by FamilySearch. This global tool is available in 10 languages currently and provides a worldwide community for budding genealogists to interact with others for research information and advice. The service is available online 24/7, ensuring users can get the support they need, when they need it. Personal research assistance is available both by phone and through live chat.
With many wonderful features to explore, it is no wonder FamilySearch has become the largest genealogy website in the world. This online service offers free resources to help interested individuals trace their family heritage through a wealth of databases providing all types of public records and documentation.
Written by Judith Sanders, a genealogy researcher at Recordsbase.com
So far, the changes I have seen at FamilySearch are very cumbersome. I can’t even get to the collections any more!! Please help. So far, it’s not easier. Thank you.