Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

Tuesday’s Tip ~ Social Networking for the Family Historian

Posted: August 14, 2012 in Tuesday's Tip
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Title: Deep in Memories
Creative image #: 143176334
License type: Royalty-free
Photographer: Maria Pavlova
Collection: Vetta
Credit: Maria Pavlova

For several years, my interest in genealogy has escalated from being just a hobby to pass the time, into a full fledged passion to learn everything I could about my ancestors lives. Before becoming a city girl and moving to metro Atlanta, I was a barefoot country girl and where I lived if you wanted to have access to the internet, you had two choices, you could have dial up or dial up! There wasn’t any such thing as high speed internet, I’m sure there really was but not where I lived 🙂  So annoying, the wait time! If I were to wait for dial up to connect to the internet for everything that I do today, I would be lost! Who wants to wait for 30 minutes to check their email only to lose their connection and have to wait yet again and again?

Today, I am back in the city, I have my T3 internet bandwidth going full speed ahead! Normally T3 is mainly used by businesses for their high speed capabilities and they offer very fast, data transfer rates. I guess this girl got lucky didn’t she? Having T3 in my apartment, how could I not be ecstatic? Life in the fast lane as they say! So much to do and only so many hours in a day to do it in. 🙂

Everyone seems to be on social networks these days, your everyday person, non-profit organizations, businesses and so on. I for one, am on not just one social networking site, but several! You can find me on LinkedIn for business networking, Twitter for my genealogy interests and followers, Facebook to stay connected with my own family and friends and I love the fact that even though I am so far away from my family we are able to stay connected to one another by sharing our photos, videos and what we are currently doing with one another, so it almost feels like we just seen each other last week. Sort of!

Being so interested in my family history, I decided to create a Facebook page called “Fans Of Genealogy” which is  dedicated to my research findings and connecting with family members and others who are interested in this topic, in a totally different way than just having a Facebook profile for just myself. It’s a place where we can all share our family memories, stories that were passed down from one generation to the next and to share photos of our past ancestors. I am sure everyone has a story they would like to share, and for me, this is the best part of learning about my heritage. What social networking sites do you utilize for your family history research?

Have you created a fan page or group on your ancestors? It’s a great way to not only stay connected but to also document your research and what you found out about your family for your children and grandchildren. One day they might be interested in what you are doing in terms of genealogy and family history. They may one day want to know where they come from, what their ancestors looked like, or even read some of the stories that were passed down oh so many years ago!

It’s time to get crackin! Time to become the genealogy sleuth and discover my past! I’m going from life in the fast lane to life in the past lane!!

Happy Hunting 🙂

 

Happy Aloha Friday!

Posted: August 10, 2012 in Family
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Image representing Woot as depicted in CrunchBase

Image via CrunchBase

What’s good in the genealogy neighborhood? Lots of things I am sure but that’s not what is on my mind right this second. Weird yeah? I thought so too! Considering I usually eat, drink, sleep and dream of genealogy most of the time! This post isn’t all about genealogy, but about the friends, family, and colleagues you meet along the way.

Since switching from Blogger to WordPress, I am truly getting more feedback on the articles I write. I don’t know why that is, it just IS. Maybe I am doing something different and just don’t realize it yet. Who knows? But I am loving the fact that I can correspond and talk to my readers, who by the way, leave good insight to my blog posts. Thank you all for this! 

Have you read any good books lately? I haven’t read as much as I used to; I now read more blog articles, tweets, Facebook posts on the “Fans of Genealogy” page and trying to connect with my followers there also. So many social networks and did you know there are many Facebook pages and groups you can join, dedicated to the topic of Genealogy? I think I belong to about 4 different ones plus a writers workshop, and this is just on Facebook! Have a Twitter account? Ha! Me too! It’s not so much a personal Twitter as it’s more related to genealogy and other writers. If you happen to find me on Twitter, just a warning: Don’t SPAM me, because I will block and report ya! Thanks, Management…

I have been reading this really good book that I ordered through Amazon.com and OMG I was hooked within the first two pages! Great writing style and the topic can’t be beat as it could really relate to anyone. It’s a book in the historical fiction genre set back in the 1870’s in Virginia, called “Forbidden Romance” by Clinton W. Getzinger 🙂 Don’t recognize this author’s name? You probably won’t! This is his first novel and he just so happens to be my cousin! Woot!! Woot!! Kudos to him for making his dream of becoming a published author, a reality! 

Clinton W. Getzinger’s book is available on your Kindle or in paperback form. It’s a great read and I highly suggest reading it! Pure awesomeness if I say so myself! I can’t wait to see what kinds of stories he comes up with for his next “novel” idea. No pun intended there 😉 It is also located and listed in GoodReads right here on this website! Take a look and read it; you won’t be disappointed!

Here is the link to the book: http://www.amazon.com/Forbidden-Romance-Clinton-W-Getzinger/dp/1478248084/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1344620184&sr=8-1&keywords=clinton+w+getzinger

Happy Aloha Friday!

Thrifty Thursday ~ Historypin

Posted: July 11, 2012 in Family
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Pinterest

Pinterest (Photo credit: KEXINO)

Historypin! What is it? It’s like a Pinterest for history and genealogy buffs! Instead of pinning pictures from various web pages, you pin channels instead. The channels hold everything you pin within that channel category. The channels you create can be customized however you like. It differs from Pinterest in a way that absolutely surpasses anything Pinterest has done so far. There is a tab at the top of the page entitled, “Maps”; I was curious to see what it did when I went to it, thinking it’s just a map of users who happen to use the site right? No way! Yes, it is a map but it’s so much more than that, it displays images and pins on that map that are clickable where you can see what someone has pinned and from what location it was pinned. Vintage photos from all over the world can be seen, you can upload video and audio content and you can even search by keyword if you are looking for anything in particular.

Historypin also has collections and tours that can be viewed or you can make your own. The collections, tours and photos are by museums, National Archives, Universities, and people from just about anywhere in the U.S. and abroad. The part I love most about this web page is the fact that Historypin is all about connecting people by the millions, who have a history that they want to share. Be it stories passed down from generation to generation, old photos of family or places, or archival objects such as antique photo albums that probably sat up in a dilapidated box, in a dusty, dirty attic with rats scurrying around up there. Yuck! It’s time to pull all your forgotten memoirs from your past ancestors, out of the attic and share their history with other genealogy buffs and professionals. We consider stuff like this to be an actual gold mine of sorts. A true treasure to behold.

What I wouldn’t give to walk into an old, abandoned house that my ancestors may have owned at one point, go up in the attic and see if anything was left behind! What would you do if you find something that they owned before you were even thought of? To imagine them holding it in their hands or using the item. It could be furniture, a cedar chest full of treasures of their day, a cameo, a family Bible, a daily journal or even an old, yellowed newspaper.

In conclusion, Historypin has a channel that gives these items in your attic a home. Not only can it be used as an educational tool, but it can be shared, learned from, seen by hundreds of thousands of people and build a more thorough understanding of the history of your ancestors or even someone else’s! What are you waiting for? Go check out these channels and pin some of your history! If you love Pinterest, you’ll love Historypin even more!

Do you have a web site or blog? Historypin has an embed tool where you can add your channels to a map on your site! Cool yeah?

Link: http://www.historypin.com/

I almost forgot! There’s a mobile app too! Historypin works on your Android, iPhone, and Windows phone 7 🙂

Where Do I Go From Here?

Posted: July 10, 2011 in blog, books, Graphic Design, publishing, social networking, Twitter, writing
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Adobe Creative Sweets

Adobe Creative Sweets (Photo credit: nicole_writes)

A college friend of mine found me on Twitter today through my blog on Genealogy. It was a surreal moment, because I had just been thinking about her only two days ago. Monete and I had the same classes, and had similar dreams of making it big in the graphic design world. It was kind of funny, remembering her passion for Photoshop while my own passion was geared more towards vectors and I loved Adobe Illustrator. She would help me in Photoshop and I would help her in Illustrator. It was a win- win situation!

There are just some talents that God blessed people with and I think God put me in her path for a reason. So after graduation, she moved away from the metro Atlanta area and we kind of lost touch, until today. Now I’ve moved away and she is still making a go of it in the graphic arts world. I thought, “Okay, now I have a degree, it’s only a matter of time before someone likes my work and decides to hire me!” Boy, that was a huge smack of reality! So what am I doing with that piece of paper that I framed? Well the degree is still in its’ frame, hung up on my bedroom wall. I now have an Associates degree in graphic design and animation that has only become a hobby at most. That paper reminds me of how expensive that particular hobby actually was.
Another lesson learned, right?

Now today, only five years later, I have finally found what I love to do. But how many people actually can say they make money from writing blogs? This blog has become my baby, I guess. I always loved reading and writing, except when it was required in high school! At that time all I ever wanted to do was get a job, get paid, and go home. I didn’t want to read Shakespeare plays or write Haiku poems; I wanted to grow up fast, become a writer, get out in the real world and make something of myself. Thinking back to when I was 16, I was infatuated and very addicted to reading the Harlequin romance novels. I could finish one book in a day, and then I’d be at the library checking out a dozen others. After reading so many of them, I thought to myself, “I could do this!” So I did. I wrote my very first manuscript and submitted it to an agency in New York City. It was accepted, but the agency had a fee associated with publishing the book. I think it was two thousand dollars back then. So where is a teenager supposed to get that kind of money from without having a job?  My mistake was thinking that the manuscript wasn’t good enough for them to publish my work, so I requested the manuscript back and I then threw it in the garbage! Now I wish I had at least held onto it!

So where do I go from here? I think I will stay on this particular path, because it’s something I love to do.

Need a Graphic Designer? Try Monete!