Genealogy Blogs for Church Members

Before I get going on this topic, I think it is important to note that if you are reading this post, you are already well along the path of learning about the importance of blogs in the genealogy world. It is now the custom, at genealogy conferences, to have genealogy bloggers there right along with the traditional news media, reporting away about the conference. I might note that at the recent RootsTech 2014 Conference, the amount of information that made it into print from the traditional news media was only a very small fraction of the amount of coverage given the Conference by the Bloggers.

In almost every Ward in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that I visit, there is a common issue with communication with the Ward members. Many Wards today rely on email and text messages to get to the members, but still print the calendar and upcoming events in a Ward Bulletin, despite the availability of LDS.org and a complete Ward and Stake Calendar program. In our own Ward the past year, my wife was called to teach a Sunday School class where members of the Ward were invited to attend and learn about LDS.org. She taught most of the leadership of the Ward and quite a few of the other members. I have mentioned before that the Family History Consultants in the Ward met with almost every family that came to Tithing Settlement and introduced them to FamilySearch.org Family Tree Photos and Stories.

Because of the efforts to teach the Ward members about LDS.org and other registration drives, a surprising number of the members had a login and password for the websites. Still, very few of them actually had visited or used either of the Church's major websites. Now, if the members are not interested or motivated enough to look at the Church's own websites, LDS.org and FamilySearch.org, then what chance is there that they will also read a blog posted by either the Church or FamilySearch?

This is what I suggest. I would suggest that the Ward leaders, especially the members of the Ward Council discuss the need to integrate the websites into the Ward's collective consciousness. This can be done by sending out messages requiring people to look at the Ward or Stake Calendar online for assignments or other communication. Using these alternative methods of communication can be like texting and email, it can become simply a part of being a member of the Ward. I realize that in some Wards, sending out text or email would be a waste of time. But even is these Wards, the presence of smartphones is becoming a major influence. Over 30% of the world's population is expected to own a smartphone by 2017.

Although the need for paper bulletins and announcements from the pulpit may never disappear, but there is no reason why the leaders cannot lead off and help people become aware of the resources being poured into the Church's Websites.

Now what about blogs. FamilySearch has a blog. In fact, it has several blogs. Here is a screenshot showing the blog page with a list of the alternative blogs. A link to the blog page is located at the bottom of the startup page for FamilySearch.org.

You can subscribe to these blogs through your settings for your LDS Account.

There are also a number of Church oriented genealogy blogs online written by members who are also genealogists. To find these, it is a good idea to do a Google search for the following terms

"genealogy blog "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"

This should bring up a list of blog and blog posts about the Church and genealogy. Remember to put the name of the Church in quotation marks so it will be searched as one term.