Looking Back at 2023

As the new year comes to a close, we are looking back at the highlights of 2023 on Geni. From new enhancements to a return to regular in-person conferences, we had a fun year and reached a new milestone in the World Family Tree with over 180 million profiles connected!

We began the year by returning to RootsTech, which was once again in person after two years of virtual conferences. It was amazing to see so many old friends face-to-face and speak to all the Geni users who came to visit us at the booth. We were joined by curator Benjamin Schoenbrun, who was available to help answer questions and provide assistance to visitors who were having trouble with their trees. We were even able to connect a few people to the World Family Tree right at the booth!

While attending RootsTech, we had a lovely chat with an avid Geni user who made some excellent suggestions on how to improve the family map feature. Shortly after our talk at the conference, the team released some new enhancements to the family map on Geni. In addition to place of birth and current location, you can now see the place of death and burial location on the world map. We made improvements to how relatives are listed when you mouse over a pinned location. Hovering over a pin now gives you an easy-to-read list of relatives at that specific location. We also added a clickable list of names so you can get more information about the individuals at that location.

We were happy to attend the National Genealogical Society Family History Conference in Richmond, Virginia. This conference was a lot of fun. Next year, NGS plans to go back to an all-virtual conference. So if you were unable to attend this year, you may have your chance next year from the comfort of your own home!

In July, the World Family Tree hit 180 million profiles connected! Thanks to the collaboration of millions of Geni users, our World Family Tree continues to grow.

Shortly after hitting the 180 million milestone in the World Family Tree we set off to London, England for the 43rd IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy. While the number of attendees was smaller than what we see in the states, the Geni booth was still busy as ever with Geni users looking for help with their trees. We also had a blast connecting with several Geni curators who were also in attendance. We’re looking forward to seeing everyone again next year in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

You may have also noticed a small enhancement we made to the event About section – it now supports wikitext! For some time, users have asked for the ability to format an event’s About section similar to what can be done in a profile’s About section. Now you can customize your event descriptions to make it look the way you want. We also made some more small improvements to editing wikitext that should make things a little bit easier.

A few years ago, we introduced the Consistency Checker to the World Family Tree. The Consistency Checker constantly monitors changes to profiles in the family tree to detect common errors and inconsistencies and bring them to your attention. All of your inconsistencies can be found on the Consistency Checker page, however, you can easily forget to go back and check as you are building your tree. This year we introduced a new Consistency Checker email notification to alert you of the most important issues discovered in the profiles you manage. We’ve heard great feedback from users who say it has been helpful to see inconsistencies in the tree that they have forgotten about.

We are still working on new and things for 2024, including a new Source Assistant email to remind you of pending Source Assistant items that may need your attention. We can wait to share everything with you!

Have a happy New Year!