Tracing my family tree with Geni

I've just started using Geni, a new service that allows you to trace your family tree. The application is really easy to use, and is one of my new benchmarks for Web 2.0 apps.

Here's how they describe it:

Geni lets you create a family tree through our fun simple interface. When you add a relative's email address, he or she will be invited to join your tree. That relative can then add other relatives, and so on. Your tree will continue to grow as relatives invite other relatives.

Your family tree is kept private at all times, and is only accessible by those within the tree. It's extremely viral, as it sends an email to every new family member. There's no complicated registration process; just the basics of a family tree in a neat Flash app.

I've spent the past hour adding my immediate family members, and those on my father's side. I've just realised that I hardly know much about my mother's side of the family. I'm addicted to it now, and hope that others in my family will continue to update the tree.

My hunch is that the technology seen here will explode on to the mainstream soon as it simplifies the method of creating a structured network to show how everyone is related. We could possibly replicate this to many different social circles, especially those where the types of members are easily defined and constricted to a set. Expect to see lots of new innovations centred around Geni soon. I sense a commercial API on the horizons, despite the privacy concerns.

Related links:

• Geni: Official website
  
• Techcrunch: Geni Launches (read the coverage & comments)
• Wikipedia: About Web 2.0