Geni.com Acquires 5 Million Profiles In 5 Months

The following announcement was written by Geni.com:

Geni's birthday reminders, family calendar, messaging and photo sharing provide social networking for families. Geni's family tree keeps families connected through genealogy.

Los Angeles, Calif., July 2, 2007 -- Geni (www.geni.com), the social network that connects users by their genealogy, today announced that it has acquired over 5 million profiles since launching in mid-January just 5 months ago.

"I believe we are reaching a tipping point where each incremental user is more willing to contribute data about his family relationships because so many other people have done so," said David Sacks, CEO of Geni.com. "Our goal is to unite the world in a single family tree, and then help those family members learn about and stay in touch with each other," Sacks said.

I believe we are reaching a tipping point where each incremental user is more willing to contribute data about his family relationships because so many other people have done so
On Geni.com, families work together to build their family trees and create profiles for the people in those trees. The site is unique among social networks in that users can create profiles for each other. This allows relatives to create profiles for deceased ancestors and parents to create and maintain profiles for their children.

Because of the millions of profiles that users have contributed to Geni, the site is becoming a valuable genealogical reference tool. Thanks to Geni's new search feature, users can search for a relative among millions of profiles in other family trees. If there is a match, the user can then message the person who added that potential common ancestor.

Thanks to Geni, many users have already connected with long-lost relatives and added new branches to their family tree.

Geni fan Kurt Walter, a Swiss citizen currently living in Vietnam, said "through you and your team I am back in touch with relatives that I didn't have contact with for 20 years."

As family trees grow and extend all over the world, Geni has launched a number of new features to enable families to stay in touch. These include messaging, photo sharing, birthday reminders and a family calendar. Geni's map feature allows users to see where there family is located across the globe.

"Since we started using Geni.com my family has grown considerably. I invited one of my cousins from Italy and all of the sudden family started appearing from everywhere in the world. Family I didn't even know I had sends me messages wanting me to come and visit them so we can get to know each other," said Victor Bello of Sherman Oaks, California. "Through Geni I've found much of my family's history through shared photos; we have uncovered a treasure with Geni.com and since then our family is closer. It doesn't really matter where you are in the world. Another perk with Geni's birthday reminders is that I won't miss another birthday EVER AGAIN!" said Bello.

Geni was a winner of the 2007 Webware 100 Awards, which named it one of the top 100 sites on the internet and one of the top 10 reference sites. It is by far the youngest site to receive this honor.

About Geni.com
Geni.com is a privately held company headquartered in Los Angeles, California. Geni was founded in 2006 by former executives and early employees of PayPal, Yahoo! Groups, Ebay and Tribe. It is backed by venture capital firms Founders Fund and Charles River Ventures. For more information visit the company's web site at www.geni.com.

Comments

[Happy Dae]

Gosh, Geni.com is growing faster than Alec Balwin! This is really great. I only wish the DNA genealogy programs would grow this quickly.

Let's all get our info to Geni.com as soon as possible. Imagine the number of matches we'll have. . .and the immense boost it will give newbies!

Happy Dae
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com/ssg1.htm

[rdx]

The wording "acquired" is a bit aggressive, isn't it? It leaves a bad taste, at least for me.

And the number of profiles is a bit deceptive, too. It suggests that they have 5 million signed up users, however, it seems, this is the figure of the persons found in the databases. The figure of those signed up must be lower.

[Kenny Hedgpeth]

I had the pleasure of meeting these guys at the 3-day SCGS - Jamboree in Burbank, CA ... actually we [ISOGG] had the booth directly across the walkway from them :) I got a quick lesson on how Geni worked during one of my breaks, and was sold instantly :) That evening I went home signed up and started plugging in all my immediate cousin's and other family members ... The next night I log-in to the site, and to my surprise! I didn't realize by adding all those family members and their email address' the night before, that I had actually invited them to help me fill in the family tree :) many had invited additional family members, in-laws have even joined in the fun and invited their extended families too, many had uploaded pictures and of course filled in lots of data that I didn't have readily available at the time :) I have received several comments that many of them like this site a whole lot better than the MyFamily site that we use to have "/ and the best thing it's FREE ! My mom has been telling all her friends and neighbors that she has a "Family MySpace" the grandkids get a kick out of grandma's terminology LOL I can't wait until I log-in to the site again tomorrow, and see what new items have been added :)

[Happy Dae]

rdx?

I think Kenny has just given you your answer. Based upon his experience, I think we can understand, in part, the rapid growth of Geni.com: it is a sound concept that works! And frankly, I think the verb "acquired" fits.

Happy Dae.
http://www.ShoeStringGenealogy.com/ssg1.htm

[nicko11]

Geni privacy statement says "We will not spam you or your relatives. Detailed account settings allow you to control which emails you receive from us."

However, Geni will spam your familymembers email accounts using your name until your relatives validates their email accounts and sign up to change the "notification" setting and make the spamming stop. That's how they got 5 million users in 5 month!! 4.8 million gave in to nuisance spam, turned it off and will never return!!

[Chalkstick]

I second the serious concerns about their privacy violations. It's absolutely insane that they would continue ignoring the hundreds of active users complaining all through their forums. It's stupid that David Sacks is so ignorant of basic privacy laws given his background. He's leading this company into the ground.

[John Travis]

I think Geni is the best thing that has happened in a long time. It helps me organize my tree & understand the relationship between my relatives.

Yhe INVITE function is a pain, but manageable.

[Carol]

I go to a lot of sites because of your articles. I am serious about my genealogy. And have just joined. MyHeritage.com. But after click on Community and then clicking on Member Center I am afraid to click on anything else because it looks more like a site where people are looking for relationships. You have an awful lot of people under 20 years old joining and from some of the photos they don't look like they are interested in genealogy. I have just joined Geni.com and have all ready entered my family tree. Hope this site does not turn out to be like the My Heritage site.

[Kenny Hedgpeth]

I find it interesting that the people doing the complaining don't have the guts to use real names "/ obviously it makes it look like they got something to hide from and just plain cause havoc about anything good "/

[Susi Pentico]

I agree wtih DAE and I find this the best thing to happen in a long time. I am still amazed at people doing genealogy and screaming security.
!. Do not put living people name on screen, use an initial or just last name.
2. The I only put first names and last names of kin on the program, on my Reunion program I have all the indepth data.
3. I hope like DAE that the FTdna group can corrolate somethng like this with them so the data is more relative to the seekers.
This is as good a tool as you can get if you use it correctly. I also was at the Burbank Jamboree.
I was a GFS Host with Golden Gates Forum for nearly ten years and have worked other forums since. I think this is super for simplicity. It has a couple quarks but I can live with them. I teach genealogy at a local library and still work classes on line.
Susi

[Denise Pagel]

I like the fact that detailed information can only be seen by someone invited to connect to a specific tree. Don't like that there's no GEDCOM capability; no way to really link 2 trees together. I'd have thought those abilities were rather basic for a tree-building site.

[Gina Huskey]

Hi, I would like to know how to add in my family's Birthdays. Can someone tell me how to do this?