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Genealogy Sites

Genealogy sites are exactly what their name suggests – sites that allow you to discover and/or document your ancestry.

Work as a Family – some genealogy sites, like geni.com, focus mainly on getting in touch with current relatives and collaborating with them to create a family tree.

This method is great for discovering family names that were lost through marriage, or for getting information about your cousins' cousins.
These tools are often used as a mini social-network for your family, so you can share pictures, birthdays, and special events with your family members.

Research Your Past – others, like ancestry.com, concentrate on researching your history and discovering new ties to your lineage.

These sites focus on tracing your roots. They'll point you to registries at Ellis Island, Census reports, marriage certificates – you name it.
Sites like these require a little more knowledge of your ancestry. Information like the last name of your first American relatives, or what town they landed in will help you get the most out of these sites.
Ancestry.com automates some of the research for you. If you start a family tree, it will pull from its databases to see if it has anything that matches the data you've entered.
In some cases, these sites charge for membership.

Look Around – unlike social networking sites, there doesn't seem to be one universal formula for genealogy sites. They're all different in how they work and what they offer. You'll need to do a little shopping around to figure out which site best meets your needs. Consider some of the following:

Are you willing to pay a membership fee?
What are you trying to accomplish? Do you want to document your current family line for future generations, or do you want to research and discover your origins?
Do you want a completely private profile, or do you want the choice to open it up to the public?
Do you want to be able to collaborate with other family members?
Do you want to be able to do all of the research yourself, or do you want some automated tools to help you?

Sign Up – most genealogy sites simply require your name and an e-mail address. Others, however, might require a subscription.

If there is a membership fee involved, check to see if the site offers a free-trial so you can test drive the site before committing to a monthly or yearly fee.
Once you sign up, the site will most likely e-mail you to both welcome you and confirm that the e-mail address you provided is valid.

Play – these sites were built to cater to you. Look around, explore, and take full advantage of all of the tools and resources they provide. If the site you pick has an option to create a network (i.e., invite family members to help) give it a try. Family tree projects are always more fun when you have a group of people working together.