I’ve been looking for an online, collaborative family tree building tool ever since our recent family reunion in the summer of 2006. I’ve finally found one that looks like it’s going to deliver exactly what I was looking for in a site of this type.
The site has a real slick, AJAXY / Flash interface and makes it super easy to add branches and details to your family tree as you figure it out and want to add more. You can start off with a simple box of First and Last name and whether or not their still living, but the real feature comes when you add the person’s e-mail address and choose to invite them to your tree to help you build out the branches.
This was always the hardest part of putting together something like this, figuring out the answers to all the gaps in your own memory. But with Geni, they take care of it for you. Can’t remember your 2nd cousin’s last name and who they married? As long as you’ve got the e-mail address of your mom’s 3rd oldest brother, just send them an invite and let them complete where you left off.
You can also go back into each pod of information and lots of specific details as shown in the screen shot below. As you can see, you can also add photos!
The whole site works like a giant, personal LinkedIn. It’s not about your professional relationships, it’s about family, your own flesh and blood. As I keep clicking on more features, I’m more and more impressed with what they’ve thought to add and include on the pages. Keep it up!