Genealogists of all stripes, especially amateurs, have long subscribed to the idea of “reciprocal acts of kindness.”

By amateurs, I am referring not necessarily to novice or inexperienced researchers, but simply to those who don’t accept payment for their services, many of whom are certainly experienced and professional in all other respects.

The acts of kindness might include, for example, taking a photo of a headstone for another researcher who is far away; visiting a records repository in a researcher’s ancestral town, translating a foreign document, and so on.

In this Internet age, another means of helping others (or receiving help) presents itself in social media. Two that I use are LinkedIn and Facebook. Both are free, unless “upgrades” are wanted. I have used both for years without needing to upgrade at an extra cost.

Like most sites, some users, and therefore some messages you receive, will involve suggestions for purchase of things or services; however, I find that these offers are generally low-key, and no one is required to purchase anything they don’t want or to join a pushy group. One can also ask other users to comment on the value or desirability of such services.

Members can post virtually any type of question or request, from translation of a single word to an entire document, to hints on how to start a family tree, to what software is best, to help in finding a specific ancestral record.

Both sites give only as much information about the user as he/she wants to release (in their “profiles”) and allow private messages between users without revealing names or email addresses unless desired.

LinkedIn is essentially an online site that enables working professionals to interact, find employment, find potential employees, etc.

However, one need not be in any given profession to join or be actively employed, nor necessarily be interested in the primary agenda of the site. It has numerous “groups,” membership in which allows discussion on topics of interest.

Typical LinkedIn genealogy groups include: Books About Genealogy, Genealogy Research Group, Italian Genealogy, Sicily (Sicilia) Genealogy, International Society of Genetic Genealogy, and many, many more.

Facebook is the seminal, iconic social medium. Certainly much of the traffic on it is ordinary, mundane discussion of day-to-day lives, activities, interests, and gripes.

But it, too, has valuable genealogy-oriented groups, such as Sicilian and Aeolian Islands Genealogy, Italian Genealogy Records, and Genealogy! Just ask!

I have seen novice researchers ask questions online, like: “My grandparents (so-and-so and his wife, so-and-so) came to America in 1910, and I know nothing else about them.”

And within a few hours (or even minutes), such queries can receive responses from one or several users on how to proceed with the research; in many cases, with details from census records, passenger manifests, and ancestral towns that identify the immigrants, give extensive facts, and even include images of the desired records and/or links to the websites that contain the information.

As noted, some responses may direct you to services for pay, but even these may serve your needs at a reasonable price.

So if you have a question about genealogy, or specifically about your Italian or Sicilian ancestors, be social! Join LinkedIn or Facebook and make some new friends who may be able to help you in your quest.

Such interaction may also put you in touch with previously unknown family members researching the same lines in which you’re interested.

Angelo F. Coniglio's 50Plus Author's Page