Ancestry24

Twitter – birds in your tree

October 29, 2009

Twitter is a new innovative way of receiving news about “what’s new” in the Genealogical world, not only locally but world wide.

These tiny messages are like headline news of what is happening without having to download emails and waste bandwidth and you get to only read what you want to read or what interests you.

Once you are using Twitter you can then start sending your own messages called Tweets and anybody else can look for the subject that your are interested in and what you are “Twittering” about and then follow you.

It is a bit like follow my leader – the leader is the person that “Twitters” their news and other people receive the “Tweets”

I have been Twittering now for a few weeks and I already have 108 people that follow my messages – they hang on to every word I say and are interested to hear what I have to say.

Today I found Megan Smolenyak, who is the Chief Family Historian at Ancestry.com and she listens to what I have to say. I am so impressed. I now am following her Tweets and I am the first to know what is happening in the Ancestral world first hand. You too can follow her and also get her news feeds instantly.

The best thing about Twitter is you dont get inundated with emails like a mailing list – you just have to donwload a litte program called “Tweetdek” thats sits on your desktop in the background all the time. Tweetdek – this is like a mini Outlook or Outlook Express program that manages your Tweets.

Twitter also has none of this privacy nonsense like other social networks and you dont have to invite anyone to be your friend. You are your own newspaper editor and your followers are your readers.

You can use Twitter for anything you are interested and not just for Genealogy. Get Tweets (also like mini blogs) from famous politicians, musicans, actors etc. You don’t have to ask anyone permission to follow them and if you do not like the their “Twitters” you simply delete them without them even knowing.

What is Tweetdek? To most of you it probably sounds absolutely rediculous but from an expert point of view and from someone who has to know what is happening out there – this is the latest and greatest thing to have. Before we had software programs to keep our family tree we did it all on paper and it was not easy. Then we all joined mailing lists, well those are things of the past. Twitter is like recieving the top Family Tree Magazines from around the world for nothing – you get to know everything as and when it happens.

To start Tweeting go and register with www.twitter.com and then search for Ancestry24 and click on “follow” within a few hours you will start recieving genealogy news. Then look at my followers on Ancestry24 and look and see what they are Twittering about.

This might sounds like a load bird $hit to you – but you but when the best Genealogy birds in the world are sitting in your nest – you wont want to push them out.