Genealogy This Week - 13 February 2010
Our weekly compilation of interesting new tools, resources and stories for genealogists:
A Useful African American Web Portal – FamilySearch has a very useful African American web portal with links to African American records and databases as well as helpful guides specifically tailored to help get you started on your African American genealogy searches. [Link]
The USGenWeb Project – The USGenWeb Project is a wonderful site for anyone looking for free genealogy records in the US. Organized by state, this site has detailed genealogy listings down to the regional and local level. The entire website is managed by volunteers who are specialists in their area. The link takes you to their main search page. [Link]
Get Ready for the US 2010 Census – We have written extensively in the past about the US census (see, for example, Top Ten Interesting Facts About the US Census). Now, it is time to check out the official government website for the 2010 census. It is well laid out and full of useful information for genealogists. [Link]
The Forgotten US Federal Census of 1885 – The US National Archives has a great article on the forgotten federal census of 1885. What 1885 census!? Yes, there was one and you can read all about it in this article. [Link]
Google Buzz – Google this week officially got into the social networking business in direct competition with Facebook. Basically, Google has taken their popular Gmail email program and morphed it into a social-networking-light site. It is called Google Buzz. You can read all about it on the official Google page. [Link] There is one glitch, however. Apparently, in Google’s enthusiasm to copy all things Facebook, they totally botched the privacy controls (gosh, that does sound just like Facebook). You can read about the issue here. [Link] Our advice – wait a couple of months until Google irons out some of the bugs.
The Growth of Social Media in Real Time – This is really cool. Ever wondered how quickly social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are growing and why Google wants to get into the social networking game? It is easy to quote numbers like saying Facebook has over 400 million members, but it is hard to get a true grasp of how rapidly social media is changing the internet. Well, a researcher by the name of Gary Hayes has figured out a way to visualize the issue. Below you can see a real time counter of how rapidly the internet is changing. Wow!