Famicity: A New Way to Gather and Share Family Stories

by | Mar 9, 2016 | 01 What's New, Collaborate, Digital Archives, Kids, Trees

Famicity: a new free platform that allows families to gather, record and share their stories. Now in English and French.

One of the things I love about RootsTech is meeting innovators who are passionate about creating new ways to discover, preserve and share family history. While I was there I met Guillaume Languereau, CEO and co-founder of Famicity. I was impressed with his enthusiasm and dedication to his company and thought I’d share it with you.

What is Famicity?

Famicity is a free platform that helps families curate and share their pictures, videos and memories “so future generations remember who they are and where they come from,” says Guillaume. “The goal is to create a living family tree where the whole family will collaborate and share to preserve the story of each and every person.”

“It’s a legacy center,” Guillaume says, meant not just for distant family history but for recording the history that’s unfolding now. In fact, he says, “the users who share the most are young mothers with a newborn baby.”

Famicity appears to work similarly to family trees on many genealogy websites, with emphasis on family social networking and privacy. No paid subscriptions are required; relatives can be invited by email. You can build a tree from scratch or by importing a GEDCOM file. Each person in the family has a profile, with his or her information organized in timeline format. The design is meant to serve the needs of old and young. “A child just has to click on a person to discover the story of his/her life. It has never been easier to tell every family member’s story.”

The service was developed in France over the course of 5 years. It launched there  and now has 150,000 users who have documented more than 3 million ancestors. Its success brought Guillaume to RootsTech 2016 to launch Famicity in English.

Famicity is a free service available on PC, MAC, tablets, and mobiles. Here’s a video teaser:

 

I do remind everyone, when they upload and share family history pictures, video, stories and other precious “digital artifacts,” to keep and back up their own master copies of them on their own computers. I love seeing relatives share and collaborate online–and I also love knowing they’ve secured and backed up their master files within their own reach. I use Backblaze which you can learn more about here.

More Gems on Building Trees with Your Family

MyHeritage: Adding Photos and Stories to Your Tree (Free Video Tutorial)how to approach a genealogist about a family tree error Ancestry

Errors on Someone Else’s Ancestry.com Tree?

Who Else Has Viewed This Record? Find Living Relatives on Ancestry.com

Alternatives to MyFamily.com: What Can You Replace it With?

by | Jun 28, 2014 | 01 What's New, Ancestry, Listeners & Readers, MyHeritage, Photographs, Social Media

I recently heard from Renee in St. Louis with this dismayed question:

“I’m assuming you’ve heard that MyFamily.com is shutting down.  I administer 5 sites there and am desperately trying to figure out what I’m going to do with all that data … I’ve got to get it migrated by September. Do you have any idea of any sites that can handle all the kinds of material that Myfamily handled?  Nothing I’ve seen so far seems adequate. I’m praying you may know of something. Thanks.”

Many in the genealogy community are mourning the passing of a few products like MyFamily that Ancestry has decided to close. My uncle has a MyFamily account which I’ve visited only a few time so I’m no expert on it, but when I look at what it offers, this is what comes to mind to replace it: MyHeritage.com. (And not because they are a sponsor of my podcast which they happen to be.)

  • For just over $6 a month (Premium membership), members can create a site that stores up to 1000 MB of photos and videos, which invited relatives can access for free. Members can also post their family trees there–allowing members to gradually and casually share their family history research alongside current photos and life events. You can keep a family events calendar that automatically incorporates living relatives’ birthdays and anniversaries.
  • For about $3.50 more per month (Premium plus membership), members get unlimited photo and video storage.
  • All the new records recently added to MyHeritage.com and their automated searches of those records and other people’s trees are a great bonus for anyone actively researching their family tree.
  • One MyFamily.com feature I see that isn’t offered in the same way at MyHeritage.com is the blog. However, you can send out group emails that link directly to the pictures you put on the site.

Check out MyHeritage membership options here.

Another perspective: Ancestry.com posted a page of frequently-asked questions about the MyFamily.com shutdown. Here’s what they say:

Q: I really like MyFamily: are there any alternatives?

A: We encourage you to visit other relevant websites that provide one or more of the features that MyFamily.com offered. Sites for you to consider include:

 

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