Social Media - Overstepping The Boundaries

What happens when you follow a genealogy-related company on Twitter - or any company for that matter - and suddenly their messages veer from being genealogy-focused to what some might consider being political or religious in nature?

Some background: many readers know that I am a big social media fan especially in terms of incorporating it with your genealogy research. I write about the topic and I speak about the topic. I mostly use Twitter to promote the GeneaBloggers site, its events and activities and to assist others with their genealogy blogs or other aspects of genealogy. To me this is all part of building a community.

In doing so, it goes without saying that I come in contact with a very diverse group of people most of whom have various opinions on many subjects. This I like. Occasionally I will follow someone on Twitter who appears to share an interest in genealogy and their recent "tweets" (messages) also demonstrate that interest. And sometimes a few of these people will feel it necessary to push a specific political or religious viewpoint. I am a tolerant person and I don't have a problem with the occasional expression of opinion on current topics or matters important to the person. It is rare that I decide to "unfollow" someone on Twitter - usually if the person's tweets are no longer focused on genealogy, that is why I drop them.

But when I follow a genealogy-related company or an organization such as a library or genealogical society, I don't expect the social media person for that company to express an opinion on political or religious matters. To me, it usually means someone new to social media doesn't understand separating the "brand" from "personal views." Even if the genealogy company were to hold a specific view, I don't expect to see it in a Twitter message. Most social media practitioners know to set up a different account for those views.

What happened yesterday is this: I began following a relatively new Twitter account under the name @un4tunatecookie. When I chose to follow, I could see the link to the website which is affiliated with Footnote.com. I purchased a Footnote subscription over a year ago and have been a big fan of their site and the research opportunities they provide to genealogists. So, I figure this "unfortunate cookie" thing is a fun way to learn about history and my followers on Twitter might like to follow as well.

After some very genealogy-focused tweets this week, this message appears: "Finally! We are represented and can do something about this economy/private sector http://www.thefreeenterprisenation.org @thefreenation"



I wasn't so much offended as I was surprised that a message like this would come from a genealogy-related vendor. So I used the "direct message" function (which is a private message which cannot be viewed by your other Twitter followers) to ask if this was a mistake and suggest that perhaps their Twitter account had been hacked. I also sent feedback to Footnote letting them know what had occurred. I also noticed that the tweet was sent using TweetDeck which means the person could be handling more than one Twitter account and simply sent the link from the wrong account.

I'm not saying that I agree or disagree with the link to Free Nation Enterprise - I tend to keep my political and religious views private or only share them with family and close friends. I may be old-fashioned but that's how I was raised - I was taught never to discuss religion or politics with strangers.

Later on in the day, the message "disappeared." Well, to a point. I'm assuming the user somehow removed the tweet:



But a search on Twitter shows that removing a tweet does not exactly remove it from the timeline:



This could be a case of a social media newbie - which I once was. I'll admit that I too started out not following all the do's and don'ts as I should have. Until I can get some answers I'm willing to give the person tweeting and Footnote the benefit of the doubt and mark this up as a simple mistake. I have made several attempts to contact Footnote concerning this issue but as of yet I have not received a response.

I also know it isn't easy to build community especially when tweeting as a business or an organization. I've observed that social media is about people wanting to engage with others and that is best done on a personal level. A good example is the CEO of Zappos, Tony Hsieh, who tweets under the name @zappos. Hsieh with over 1.3 million followers has excelled at engaging customers (and potential customers) so they feel they are conversing with a person and not a company's marketing division.

For those genealogy and family history fans who use Twitter (other other forms of social media like Facebook or even blogs), how do you handle people who express political or religious views? Do you follow them even if their views don't agree with yours? Do you follow a diverse group with different views? Do you only follow people with the same interest in genealogy (or scrapbooking or blogging, etc.) and if certain messages make you uncomfortable, how do you handle it? Do you "drop" them and not let them know why? And what about businesses - do you use a different standard for following them? I'm interested to hear what others have to say - I think the dialog would be very valuable.

Funny, Embarrassing or a Cruel Joke?

This post was composed for the 6th Edition of Smile For The Camera ~ A Carnival of Images

The photo looks innocent enough: someone holding up a decorated cake for the camera, the cake says "Happy Confirmation . . ." Or is there more to it than that?

Only if you were part of my family would you begin laughing when you saw this photo, because you had been told the story behind it.

My mother's confirmation took place in 1955 as you can see by these photos:



Above my mother, Jacqueline Austin, poses with her grandmother, Therese McGinnis Austin and her sister who also served as her sponsor, Patricia Austin.



Above Jacqueline Austin poses outside in her confirmation gown.

So what's so funny about the cake photo? Well being part of a family of practical jokers and people who generally kid around quite a bit, someone thought it would be fun to act as if they were throwing the cake out the window. I guess this had my mother quite upset, as any 13-year old would be on her special day. I can't remember who exactly threatened to toss the cake out the window but I bet it was one of her brothers.

After having grown up with what outsiders freely call a "crazy family" I am no longer embarrassed by these jokes - be it one aunt who shows up at every high school graduation with air horns, signs and a loud mouth or aunts who will take over an entire Red Lobster for the afternoon with lots of yelling and laughing.

And to be honest, I don't think I'd have it any other way.

Photo 1: Confirmation Cake. Jersey City, New Jersey, 1955. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

Photo 2: Therese McGinnis Austin, Jacqueline Austin and Patricia Austin. Jersey City, New Jersey, 1955. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

Photo 3: Jacqueline Austin - Confirmation. Jersey City, New Jersey, 1955. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

It Is Well With My Soul: A Family History In Song And Images

I don't often delve into certain topics on this blog, having been reared with the admonition not to discuss religion or politics with strangers. But even without looking at the story of Horatio Spafford through the lens of religion, one must be struck in amazement at how a man beset with such troubles and hardships could live a life being better, not bitter.

My genea-blogging colleague Terry Thornton at Hill Country of Monroe County, Mississipi has already gone into much detail about Spafford and how the death of his son, the Great Chicago Fire and the shipwreck which took his four remaining daughters inspired, if that is the appropriate word, the lyrics to the hymn It Is Well With My Soul.

I never heard this song growing up since it wasn't part of the musical liturgy at the Catholic church I attended. It wasn't until I was exploring various Protestant denominations while in my 20's that I came to learn and love this hymn, especially the first verse.

Imagine my surprise when I came across a music video of The Innocence Mission's version of It Is Well With My Soul which was produced by Bluefish TV. Not only does it convey the story of Spafford's life but it is such a well produced piece of family history condensed in a less-than three minute video. If I could only condense the stories of my family and ancestors in such a beautifully produced format!

I place this video right up there with John Catching's version of the hymn and look at it when I know I need to be better, and not bitter.

Wordless Wednesday

Jacqueline Austin and Lawrence Austin - First Holy Communion, Jersey City, New Jersey. Photograph. 1949. Digital image. Privately held by Thomas MacEntee, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE,] Chicago, Illinois. 2008.

Name Day

In my in-laws' family there is the concept of having a "Name Day" or "Name's Day." There are many cultures that use the same type of celebration: specific days of the year are set aside to celebrate specific saints in most Christian-based religions. The most obvious example would be March 17th to celebrate Saint Patrick.

Today is the Feast of Saint George, April 23rd. This means that those who are named after Saint George would be celebrating their Name Day also known as Saint's Day.

In some countries, the Name Day garners more celebrating than the Birth Day. In Greece, where my in-laws are from, a person celebrating their Name Day has to serve as host to their guests. This means that instead of receiving gifts they give gifts, usually in the form of hosting an open house or taking immediate family members out for a meal.

Also in the Greek tradition is this twist: if your Name Day falls during the Lenten period (which is now since Greek Easter is April 27, 2008), then the celebration is carried over until Easter Monday, the day after Easter.

Does your family have a tradition of celebrating Name Day?

All Saints' Day

Today, November 1st, is All Saints' Day and being raised Roman Catholic but no longer practicing, I still remember that it is a HDO - Holy Day of Obligation. Growing up, my non-Catholic friends never understood the difference between a holiday and a holy day. I would just say: "On holidays we don't have to eat ground glass."

All jokes aside, I do remember many of my family's traditions involving our faith and I still remember all the rites, the customs and the HDOs. And I remember how my mother was raised in the Catholic church but she took a more modern view towards it when I was a young boy.

My great-grandmother, Therese McGinnes Austin, was raised in a strict Catholic home in New York City. With her mother, Bridget Farren McGinnes being from Ireland, this made sense. During the turn of the century women had to wear a veil when entering the church, there was no meat consumed on Fridays, you had to fast on Good Friday, etc.

When I cleaned out my mother's house in upstate New York last year, I found evidence of my great-grandmother's faith: many sets of rosary beads, lace veils, missals, mass cards, statues of St. Anthony, St. Christopher and St. Jude. I knew all the saints growing up - my brother and I would take turns grossing eat other out with stories of how certain saints were martyred. My favorite was St. Catherine who was placed on a wooden wheel and tortured, but miraculously the wheel blew apart.

I still think about when I'd call Mom from California and ask her what she was up to. She'd say, "Oh I'm praying to St. Anthony." I knew what that meant - she lost something. St. Anthony was meant to help you find lost articles. As Mom's Alzheimer's progressed, there was a lot of praying to St. Anthony.

My other memories of the Catholic church and my family include my great-grandmother's dismissal of the post-Vatican II mass and practices. They did away with the veil. The started the folk music Mass in the 1970s which she called the "Hootenany Mass." And then the Saturday night Mass at 5:30 pm where people wore jeans! The last straw was the late Sunday Mass at 4:00 or 5:00 pm for some churches. That was the "Lazy Can't Get Your *ss out of Bed because You're Hungover Mass" according to Grandma. She didn't mince any words.

I grew up under Vatican II so for me the priest always faced the congregation, you could always go to Saturday night Mass and wear jeans, and you always sang songs like Kumbaya. But I remember one time when the practice of Offering of the Sign of Peace was introduced right before Communion. You were to turn to the person behind you or next to you and shake their hands and say "Peace be with you." My mother turned around to shake the hand of an elderly woman who had been in the congregation a long time, since dirt. And the woman said "I don't do that crap!" We just howled about that for years.

But what I remember most about Mom and the Church is her independence. Mom was a tough cookie when she had to be and she had strong convictions as strong as her faith. One year around election day when the local priest took it upon himself to tell the congregation who they should and should not vote for (most likely due to their stand on abortion), she stood up and marched herself and her two young boys down the aisle and right out the front door.

Photo: Therese McGinnes Austin poses for her Confirmation photo, 1907.