Genealogy Chats on Three Social Media Platforms

Whether you have an account on Twitter, Mastodon, or Blue Sky, you can participate in a genealogy chat or at least browse the chat posts to see what was said. 

In the past two years, many former Twitter users have fled to Blue Sky, many to Mastodon, many to Threads. So far, I haven't heard of any genealogy chats on Threads, but the other three have chats on a regular basis. (I began on Twitter in January, 2009 and will always refer to the platform by that name.)

#GenChat takes place on the second and fourth Friday nights (US time) of every month on Twitter, then on those Saturday mornings on Mastodon--see schedule above. Led by Christine McCloud, the chat is an hour of sometimes guided conversation (meaning question/answer format) and sometimes free-wheeling open mic with a theme. To learn more, see the "how it works" section of the GenChat website here. No matter where you're based, no matter what your level of genealogy experience, you're invited to join this friendly chat. I'm usually on the Saturday Mastodon chats, with folks from all over the globe.

#AncestryHour, a UK-based genealogy chat attracting folks from all around, is currently in "show up and chat" mode, without any formal moderator. It takes place on Twitter on Tuesdays, at 2 pm US Eastern (7 pm UK). As the name suggests, it's an hour of informal conversation about whatever you happen to be researching or reading, and it can be a good place to ask for advice or just hang out.

Before Twitter was bought a couple of years ago, #AncestryHour had a team of terrific moderators...but then the new owner instituted changes that made formal moderation nearly impossible. Still, if you're on Twitter, please feel welcome to visit and chime in if you choose. I often join this chat on Tuesdays.

The newest chat is #GenHour, which will begin on the Blue Sky social media platform in September. The weekly schedule is shown above, with British Standard Time start times. So for September 5th, the 8 pm BST start would be 3 pm Eastern time for US participants. This new #GenHour chat is an effort to bring more interactivity to the growing genealogy community on BlueSky. I'm not yet on Blue Sky, so I won't be participating--but I'll be very interested to hear how this new chat develops!

What About Twitter and Mastodon for Genealogy?

Having enjoyed the genealogy community on Twitter for 14 years, I'm tentatively keeping my account there despite the chaos that ensued after the new ownership began in October, 2022. For the record, I don't agree at all with the new policies and actions, nor do I like the changed atmosphere. UPDATE NOV 2023: Still don't like the atmosphere on Twitter, supposedly known as X these days. In fact, I had 100 bots a week follow me on Twitter, so I've taken my account there private. No more bots. 

But I very much like the genealogy people I've met on Twitter, and I get a lot out of participating in various genealogy chats. Every other Friday night is the US-based #GenChat (10 pm Eastern). Tuesday afternoon (Eastern time) is the UK-based #AncestryHour. UPDATE: #AncestryHour has been on hiatus since Twitter imposed limits on the number of posts that can be viewed without paying, mid-2023. However, #GenChat is alive and well.

Exploring Mastodon

As a possible Twitter alternative, I joined Mastodon late in 2022. With my interest in family history, I joined via a server (known as an "instance" in the platform's terminology) that is primarily focused on genealogy. It's called Genealysis.social, and you can read more here.

My Mastodon account is: @MarianBWood@genealysis.social (see image at top--with me in one of the MyHeritage AI Time Machine portraits).  

I highly recommend Daniel Loftus's YouTube tutorial on how to use Mastodon. He was an early adopter and knows the ins and outs. TY to Daniel for the master class! The tutorial helped me get up and running while I gain experience. Still, Mastodon is not yet as interactive as Twitter, and other social media platforms may emerge that are even better alternatives.

I'm delighted that there is a list of genealogy and family-history #Geneadons as a pinned toot on Mish Holman's Mastodon account. TY to Mish for making this available on Mastodon, so I can find and follow my family history friends.

As of May, I haven't yet noticed a high volume of genealogy conversation on Mastodon, not anywhere near as much as used to be on Twitter prior to October, 2022. Happily, #GenChat is now on Mastodon, with a small but interested group.

UPDATE NOV 2023: Although Mastodon has not at all become a hotbed of genealogy conversations, #GenChat has definitely picked up steam and attracts a different crowd on Mastodon, especially participants from Europe and down under. It's been fun and worthwhile, though fewer are joining the conversation compared with what used to happen on Twitter.