Blood and water, trees and forests

I’ve promised myself never to go on too much about social apps, but there is one app that I’ve fallen in love with, and I’d love to share it. I signed up to Geni purely by chance — I think it was to check out the flash tree visualisation — and my affinity to the app just grew.

Geni has all the photo-sharing, video-sharing and guest-booking functionality now de facto on social apps. However, the focus is on that one thing not seen that often on Facebook: family, and in particular the older members of one’s family.

A journey into the past

I added my mom and dad, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings — as many and as far back as I could remember — to my tree. Then I walked away. Only thing is, I got a notification a week or two later that my tree was growing. My uncle added his extended family and they added theirs. My brother added his daughter, my aunt added my cousins. My parents figured out who their grandparents were and when they were born. At least, they figured out the circa. The tree, which started with only a couple of branches, is now standing tall. Next to my tree other trees are forming. We are growing into a forest.

It’s a remarkable experience; I’ve reconnected with long-lost family and I have an understanding of what ‘fourth cousin, twice removed’ really means. The tree visualisation works like a charm: you can zoom in and out, pan around to explore relationships, even expand and collapse other trees. I get notifications of birthdays and anniversaries that up to now I’ve never been able to keep track of. Best thing about the app is that I have my family right where I want them: at the click of a mouse and a thousand miles away. It’s pure genius.

Back to the future

My activity and the growth around the original seed made me think. What happens a couple of generations down the road with the data we’re seeding through social apps now? Will my grandchildren be able to explore my media and relationships when I’m no longer around? Even hook my then-defunct timeline up to theirs?

Is there more utility in a genealogy app than a purely social one, in the long run? Where, how and when do they all merge together? Will an app that manages the past be more future-proof than apps that manage the present? Time, and the propensity of the internet to remember all, will tell if blood is indeed thicker than water.