[April 29, 2008]

Dick Eastman Joins Familybuilder Advisory Board

At last! I can now talk and write about this. I am delighted to accept a position on the Advisory Board of Familybuilder™, a software company that builds genealogy and family-oriented applications for online social networks. The company’s flagship product, Family Tree, is the first genealogy application to be introduced on Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, and Hi5.

I suspect that most genealogists have not yet heard of Familybuilder. In fact, I had not heard of the company a few months ago. However, when I discovered this online service, I was impressed. I believe that social networking sites will be the "next big thing" in online genealogy. I am delighted to have a small role in guiding that growth.

Online social networks such as Facebook, Bebo, MySpace, and Hi5 are large groups of individuals that are tied together by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as blood relatives, business acquaintances, church members, social club members, individuals with common interests, similar employment, or any of hundreds of other factors. In short, social networks are groups of people who share an interest or a relationship.