Ancestry sent out the following press release this morning:Â
ANCESTRY.COM SEES SECOND MAJOR SURGE IN USER-UPLOADED CONTENT, MORE THAN 1 MILLION FAMILY PHOTOS ADDED TO FAMILY TREES
Revolutionary Online Family Tree-Building Fuels Massive User Uploads and Sharing; During the Past Ten Months More than 1.7 Million Family Trees Created, 257 Million Names Added and 18 Million Historical Records Linked
PROVO, UTAH – April 23, 2007 – Ancestry.com, the world’s largest online family history resource, today announced that more than 1 million family photos have been uploaded since the site’s new tree-building and sharing features launched in July 2006. In fact, users are now uploading photos at a rate of 10,000 per day. Over this same period, users have also created more than 1.7 million new family trees, added an estimated 257 million names to their trees, sent 316,000 invitations to share their family tree and attached 18 million family history documents directly from Ancestry.com’s 24,000 historical records collections.
Ancestry.com’s tree-building tools enable family members to build multimedia family trees together whether living next-door or across continents. Families can upload photos, write stories, enter life events and names on a shared family tree – all for free.
“The new features on Ancestry.com are gaining incredible momentum, and our users are uploading photos at an unbelievable rate, demonstrating the power of online family history collaboration,†said Tim Sullivan, CEO of The Generations Network, parent company of Ancestry.com. “We couldn’t be more pleased that so many people are preserving and safeguarding these priceless, personal records by uploading and sharing them through Ancestry.com. While we continue to grow the world’s largest online collection of family history documents by acquiring, digitizing and indexing original source documents, we’re even more excited by the scope and potential of the personal content now coming from individual families all over the world. Every single one of these 1 million photographs is a precious memory now preserved for future generations and sharable with invited family members, as well as distant cousins yet to be discovered through Ancestry.com.â€
These visual portraits of history are organized into specific categories on the site for easy searching including, Portrait/Family Photo, Place, Object, Historical Event, Headstone, Document/Certificate, Map, and Transportation.
The site’s easy-to-use tools, combined with an increasing interest in family history, are bringing together a worldwide audience in a secure and family-friendly environment. With sites in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Canada and Australia, Ancestry.com’s users from across the globe are working together in creating and sharing their family trees with Ancestry.com’s advanced collaborative tools.
Improved tree-building tools, designed for enhanced searching, storing and sharing, allow subscribers to discover their past with the site’s extensive databases of more than 5 billion searchable names, including the entire digitized and indexed U.S. Federal Census collection from 1790 to 1930, all readily available U.S. ship passenger list records from 1820 to 1960 and other historical records collections.
To view a sample of these one million unique family photos added to Ancestry.com click here.
About Ancestry.com
With 24,000 searchable databases and titles, Ancestry.com is the No. 1 online source for family history information. Since its launch in 1997, Ancestry.com has been the premier resource for family history, simplifying genealogical research for millions of people by providing them with many easy-to-use tools and resources to build their own unique family trees. Ancestry.com is part of The Generations Network, Inc., a leading network of family-focused interactive properties, including MyFamily.com, Rootsweb.com, Genealogy.com and Family Tree Maker. In total, The Generations Network properties receive 9.6 million unique visitors worldwide and over 380 million page views a month (comScore Media Metrix, February, 2007).
Media Contacts
Julia Burgon
Coltrin & Associates for Ancestry.com
212-221-1616 ext. 124
[email protected]
Tola St. Matthew-Daniel
Coltrin & Associates for Ancestry.com
212-221-1616 ext. 101
[email protected]
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I am having way too much fun with the family trees–uploading photos, histories, and connecting my family to historical sources, such as census, death records, etc. It just doesn’t seem possible that sitting at a computer day and night could be so fun………
My only worry is; could someone use this information and these photos for identity theft? I’d like to keep my tree public so that other family members can find me easily. Is that unwise?
If I upload photos and data onto my tree do my family members have to be members on Ancestry.com to be able to share?