Hellotree - A Quick Look
I was browsing through Miriam's AnceStories blog and found a post about a new family tree social networking site. It's called Hellotree and is one of the many sites popping up around the net designed to be kind of a 
Facebook for people interested in family history. Facebook, MySpace and others are designed for relatively young people to keep in touch with old friends and to make new ones. The genealogy version appears similar, except they are designed for families to keep in touch with each other.
I can't say anything bad about Hellotree...it's OK. I built a small family tree and discovered the functionality is almost exactly like Geni.com. When you put the two trees side by side there really is no difference. Like Geni, you can send email invitations to family members and work on the tree collaboratively. Has anyone ever done this on any of these genealogy social networking sites?? I haven't and really wonder how it works. Hellotree appears to me as a slimmed down version of Geni, but it has very similar features like tree building, user profile, a family index, and a photo section. Geni has a few more bells and whistles within each area, but it's mostly the same.
Most of the bigwigs in genealogy say social networking is the next big thing in family history, but I wonder if this means the next big money maker, or big in terms of an important new tool for researchers. I've never used any of these sites for collaborative research and don't know anyone who has...so who's using these things?
Like I said, there is nothing bad to say about Hellotree. I like the Web 2.0 tree builder, but I'm just not into the whole concept. I kind of feel bad because it doesn't appear I'm giving Hellotree a balanced look. I would really like to hear from someone who is into this kind of collaborative genealogy, and if they want to write a review I will gladly post their opinions in a guest article. Maybe I'm just out of touch and someday I will come around, but right now this kind of site just doesn't do anything for me.
Daniel/Anthony, Thanks for the great comments! Now this is balance...one not liking hellotree and the other choosing to use it. I appreciate you both adding some value to the post!
Posted by: Tim Agazio | May 20, 2008 at 06:05 AM
I have tried both Hellotree and Geni and neither are very serious genealogy tools. However both are great for bringing family together in creating a family tree that everyone is directly involved in and collaborate on. I played with both but settled on Hellotree for its simpilicity, while Geni I found a bit techy. So far the family is joining and posting photos and are far more interested in Hellotree than any of the research Ive done on ancestry. Are Hellotree and other Web 2.0 family tree networks worthwhile... I say absolutely.
Posted by: Anthony P | May 20, 2008 at 01:29 AM
why give a balance look to a cheap knock-off? geni.com is the innovator in this field.
Posted by: Daniel | May 19, 2008 at 07:31 PM