Blogs - They're not just for reading...

This is the symbol for Blogger, a blog hosting service offered by Google.

Ever thought about starting your own blog?

Here are some good reasons to do it:

1. Just like you can learn a lot by reading others' blogs, others can learn a lot by reading a blog hosted by you. Be a giver of information!

2. Blogs are an easy way to get started using the cloud. The data you upload to a blog is saved in "the cloud". Who knew?!


3. A blog is a cheap (as in free!) way to back up your data. Everything you put on the blog is backed up by whatever blog hosting service you use.


4. Sharing your family history finds on a blog gets the info to interested family members quickly. Find it, post it - it's that easy. Forget the photocopies! Eradicate the emails! Lose the links! It's all on the blog for whomever wants it. They can print the images and documents you post or they can save it to their own computer.

Following are a couple examples of using 

a blog to share family history information.

The first blog holds images from a scrapbook. Sharing the scrapbook on a blog has several advantages over printing books for family members. One, it's free; two, it can be shared widely; three, it can be printed or downloaded by others...saving you time; and four, distant cousins (whom you may not even know) can find it on the web.

Shea Story Blog (Click Here)

The second blog holds documents and images. It's organized more like a file cabinet of information than like a scrapbook. Viewers can download or print anything from the blog.

Gramps and Mamaw's Girls Blog (Click Here)

Watch these short videos about

how to create a blog on Blogger:

Blog your Family History Part 1

(Click on "YouTube" at the bottom of the screen to 
watch it on YouTube with a larger screen.)

Blog Your Family History Part 2 

(Click on "YouTube" at the bottom of the screen to 
watch it on YouTube with a larger screen.)

Blog Your Family History Part 3

(Click on "YouTube" at the bottom of the screen to 
watch it on YouTube with a larger screen.)

Now go share your family history with your own blog!

Thine in the bonds of family history fun!  Caroleen

Blogs - They Can Help Your Reseach

The word "blog" is short for web log...a "log" that you keep on the "web", or Internet. Blogs can be compared to newsletters, magazines, or emails. A person with knowledge about a particular subject can "post" information in a blog. 

Information is added to a blog with the most recent post at the top of the page. You can scroll down through the blog to read the posts, clicking at the bottom of the page to reveal more posts. Sometimes there is a "blog archive", a "search box", or a list of  "labels" on a blog that can help you find content you're interested in reading.

By reading genealogy blogs you can learn new methods to research, record, and share your family history. Sometimes blogs have links to other websites or to other blogs that can help you learn more.

Here is a list of a few blogs that might help you with research:

Genealogy Roots Blog - http://genrootsblog.blogspot.com/

Renee's Genealogy Blog - http://rzamor1.blogspot.com/

The [Official] Ancestry.com blog - http://blogs.ancestry.com/ancestry/

The Unoffical Blog about Ancestry.com and FamilySearch.org - http://ancestryinsider.blogspot.com/

Genealogy Insider (Family Tree Magazine) - http://blog.familytreemagazine.com/insider/?p_pagealias=genealogyinsider

You can do a Google search to find more blogs. Just enter something like "Top Genealogy Blogs" into the search box. (No quotation marks necessary.)

If you like a blog you're reading, you can click on "Follow" or "Subscribe". You can then set up a "dashboard" or a "reader" to read new posts without having to go back to the blog repeatedly. All of the blogs you "follow" or "subscribe to" are stored neatly in one place so that you can read new posts on all of them without having to click around the Internet.

This is what the "Subscibe" button often looks like. It often says "RSS Feed"

Sometimes it looks like this.

The arrow is pointing to the "follow" button that can be found on some blogs. It's a bit different than a subscription, but will still create an area where you can read many blogs in one place.

Get in touch with me if you'd like to set up a "Reader" or a "Dashboard". In less than 30 minutes you can be reading blogs like a pro!