Search Social Media
You are always looking for new methods to connect and learn more about your relatives and hopefully gather new information on ancestors. Using today’s social media such as Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter you just might be able to connect to new resources.
Locating distant cousins or those with an interest in specific surnames might have photos, journals, diaries, stories and a family tree you were unaware of to date. The sharing of information can prove to be one of the best avenues in your research. Of course you do want to verify with other resources all data gathered.
Facebook is very popular and there are many groups and individuals posting photos and information on their family or related branches. There are countless Facebook sites. The best method to find any is in the search box at the top left of the Facebook page, type a surname and ‘genealogy’. For the Watson Genealogy site there are 30 members. True not a big site but all it takes is a couple to really help with your lineage. The more unusual a surname, the less members there will be. 
Try different ways in the search, such as ‘Randolph Family Genealogy’ or ‘Randolph Family History.’ The same is true when searching on Twitter, place a surname and genealogy. Reminder, there are place names with surnames, so you could come up with those also.
Using Pinterest, which is a collection of contributed photos, images of books, documents, etc you never know what you could locate. Just listing a surname with produce anything with that name; such as locations, famous people, products, all of which could prove to be enlightening.
Besides surnames, use these social media sites to help with information on your ancestor’s hometowns. There might be posted photos of vintage homes and businesses, just might be what you were looking for.
The key in using these type of sources is to keep trying because items are added all the time. Plus if you are not finding what you want, start your own Facebook or Twitter page for a specific surname or location. This way someone else then finds you and is interested in what you can share.
Here is the Pinterest site for FamilyTree.com.
Follow FamilyTree.com on Facebook.
Related FamilyTree.com genealogy blogs:
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