Geni.com

Geni.com is a genealogy-related social networking website [cite web|last=Arrington|first=Michael|authorlink=Michael Arrington|title=PayPal, Pulp Fiction and Geni|publisher=TechCrunch|date=2007-01-12|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/01/12/paypal-pulp-fiction-and-geni/|accessdate=2007-01-20] launched in beta mode on January 16 2007 by Web 2.0 company Geni, Inc. [cite web|title=Geni.com launches venture backed family tree site|publisher=SocalTech.com|date=2007-01-16|url=http://www.socaltech.com/geni.com_launches_venture_backed_family_tree_site/s-0007096.html|accessdate=2007-01-20] Over ten million profiles were created on Geni as of November 12, 2007. [cite web|title=Geni: 5 million Profiles In 5 Months|publisher=TechCrunch|date=2007-07-02|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/07/02/geni-5-million-profiles-in-5-months/|accessdate=2007-07-02] . Geni is also the parent company of instant messaging service Yammer. [cite web|title=Yammer Gets Top Prize At Tech Conference|publisher=socalTECH.com|date=2008-09-11|url=http://www.socaltech.com/yammer_gets_top_prize_at_tech_conference/s-0017326.html|accessdate=2008-09-26]

Investors

The Founders Fund, a private venture capital firm, invested "more than $1 million”.cite web|last=Marshall|first=Matt|title=Geni aims to build family tree for whole world|publisher=Venture Beat|date=2007-01-16|url=http://www.venturebeat.com/2007/01/16/geni-aims-to-build-family-tree-for-whole-world|accessdate=2007-01-20] Charles River Ventures, a private venture capital firm, has also invested US$10 million dollars.cite web|last=Arrington|first=Michael|authorlink=Michael Arrington|title=$100 Million Valuation For Geni|publisher=TechCrunch|date=2007-03-05|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/03/05/100-million-valuation-for-geni/|accessdate=2007-03-05]

Website features

At the website users enter names and email addresses of their parents, siblings, and other relatives, as well as profiles with various fields of biographical information about themselves and their relatives. From there users may graphically manipulate sections of their connections network to create a complete personal family tree.

The service uses the contact information to invite additional members to join, and builds a comprehensive social network database from the information collectively entered by members. For now users may only see information belonging to themselves and to people in their immediate network who have given them permission. [cite web|last=Butler|first=Phil|title=Geni - Links in A Bottle|publisher=profy.com|date=2007-01-17|url=http://www.profy.com/2007/01/17/geni-links|accessdate=2007-01-20]

Family Tree Awards

Members of each family are ranked by the amount of contributions to the family tree and are given awards within the family tree itself. These contributions can range from amount of pictures uploaded, number of users invited to the tree, etc. Each user is thus ranked and given awards if they are within the top 13 people of doing so.

GEDCOM

Users can import their family history into Geni using the popular GEDCOM format. The launch of this features makes it easy to move their research into Geni to easily share it with their family.cite web|last=Eastman|first=Dick|authorlink=Dick Eastman|title=Geni Adds GEDCOM Import|publisher=Eastman%27s_Online_Genealogy_Newsletter|date=2008-05-12|url=http://blog.eogn.com/eastmans_online_genealogy/2008/05/geni-adds-gedco.html|accessdate=2008-05-15]

Users can also export a GEDCOM of their family tree from Geni.

Revenue model

Geni.com is not presently earning revenue. The company plans to make money by targeting advertising to users based on the demographic information they provide. It is considering charging for a premium subscription service.

imilar companies

There are similar Family2.0 social networking sites that include genealogy capabilities. These sites include Famiva, Amiglia and MyHeritage. [cite web|title=Social Networking - Family & Genealogy 2.0 Web Sites|publisher=about.com|date=2008-04-09|url=http://genealogy.about.com/od/social_networking/|accessdate=2008-04-09]

Computer software company The Generations Network, maker of popular software title "Family Tree Maker", has operated a paid genealogy subscription site and web portal since 1998 under brands MyFamily.com, Ancestry.com, Rootsweb.com and FamilyHistory.com. Geni.com, and WebBiographies, by contrast, are free.

Geni is to some extent modeled after social networking site LinkedIn, a popular site for business-related social networking.

After Geni's launch, several (mostly international) companies have appeared trying to copy its product and business model. For example, the German website Verwandt.de makes unauthorized usage of the Geni Flash application, and copies the family networking aspect of Geni in its entirety. [cite web|title=Verwandt.de: German Geni Clone|publisher=techcrunch.com|date=2007-08-07|url=http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/08/07/verwandtde-german-geni-clone/|accessdate=2007-09-05] [cite web|title=Elance bid for verwandt.de|publisher=elance.com|date=2007-03-15|url=http://www.elance.com/c/rfp/main/rfpBid.pl?jobid=12039961|accessdate=2007-11-30]

The Danish Web 2.0 company [http://jointhefamily.net jointhefamily.net] has similarities with Geni.com, but does not focus upon genealogy but upon building global, vivid networks like MySpace or Facebook with family relations alone connecting people.

References

External links

* [http://www.geni.com/ Company website] :* [http://blog.geni.com/ Geni Blog] (official):* [http://forum.geni.com/ Geni Forums] (official):* [http://wiki.geni.com/ Geni Wiki] (official) Powered by Mediawiki
* [http://webreprints.djreprints.com/1651091471781.html The Next Generation Of Genealogy Sites] - Wall Street Journal article on Geni. February 15 2007.