Modern Software Experience

2010-05-03

FamilyLink

WebTree

FamilyLink née WorldVitalRecords introduced the WebTree site in 2008, and did so without much modesty. According to FamilyLink, WebTree was the most revolutionary family tree publishing site on the Internet. They claimed that WebTree offered unparalleled family tree browsing experience of their next-generation family tree community.

abandoned

In actual fact, no community materialised at all. FamilyLink’s failure to either upgrade or even maintain the site is major a reason for that. It even seems that FamilyLink abandoned the site soon after introducing it.
An early blurb on the site promised that they would be releasing a number of revolutionary features over the next few months. They introduced two not-so major features late in 2008, and as far as I know, not a single new feature in 2009.

When I checked it out again late in March of this year to compare it with Family ChArtist, I got a server error as soon as I selected an individual.

When I checked back on 2010 April 26, the site was dead. I tweeted that discovery, and kept checking back each day. The site remained down and FamilyLink remained silent. The conclusion seems inevitable: FamilyLink has pulled the plug on WebTree.com.

WebTree no more

data

FamilyLink has not emailed its users about WebTree’s impending termination. FamilyLink acted as if it hoped that we had forgotten about WebTree and would not notice its demise - but I had an account with a small test tree there, and I did notice.

An obvious question is what happened to all the trees that have been uploaded, the millions of profiles collected on WebTree.com. Well, the relevant paragraph of the promises that WebTree made to users is:

An absolute truth: You own your data. WebTree.com respects the hard work you’ve put into your family history and we’re not about to take that away from you. You can delete your file at any time, no questions asked. Also, WebTree.com will never sell your data or burn it to CD.

WorldVitalRecords

It used to be that WebTree.com data showed up in WorldVitalRecords searches. I performed a few searches for names I know were on WebTree.com, but did not find any, and FamilyLink is not selling a WebTree CD either. The data seems to be gone.
It seems that, unlike MyHeritage when it took over Verwandt.de (DynasTree, It’s Our Tree) and Zooof, FamilyLink has kept the promise the site made when it is was still attracting users.

FamilyLink

FamilyHistoryLink

WebTree is not the first project that FamilyLink née WorldVitalRecords abandoned. FamilyLink earlier abandoned FamilyHistoryLink née FamilyLink.

FamilyLink promised that ning network GenealogyWise would be a full replacement, complete with family tree functionality, and has also stated that FamilyLink is serious about investing in GenealogyWise, but when Ning recently announced that free ning networks will be phased out, FamilyLink did not release any reassuring statement about the future of GenealogyWise.

FamilyLink may not have officially abandoned any other project yet, but there is an awful lack of news regarding some of them, and GenSeek should have been introduced more than a year ago.

FamilyLink Plus

FamilyLink recently introduced the FamilyLink Plus subscription, despite the fact that that half the features they promised in exchange for your money did not even exist yet. That already make them seem rather desperate for your money already.
FamilyLink Chief Marketing Officer Cydni Tetro was so eager to sell FamilyLink Plus subscriptions that she tweeted: With #FamilyLink Plus you can search through thousands of #genealogy databases and find millions of ancestors!.
I don’t know what’s worse for a genealogy company, that their chief marketeer demonstrates that she hasn’t the faintest clue about how many ancestors you can reasonably expect to find, or that she does know, but is deliberately engaging in false advertising to snare prospects who do not.
I do know that FamilyLink has been tweeting about FamilyLink Plus quite a lot, often using CoTweet to tweetspam the same message from multiple twitter accounts.

WorldVitalRecords.au

Just a few days ago, FamilyLink announced that it sold WorldVitalRecords.au, because FamilyLink concentrates on the integration of the social networking side of its operations into the main WorldVitalRecords.com site.

the bottom line

FamilyLink seems to be rethinking its portfolio of projects, to concentrate on its most profitable operations. It has recently abandoned one presumably unprofitable project and sold another project. It has introduced a subscription before the promised features were finished and has been promoting that subscription a lot.
FamilyLink seems to be focussing on profitability.

updates

2010-05-21

In Why this Entrepreneur is having Sleepless Nights, Paul Allen admits that FamilyLink is once again in financial trouble because he betted everything on FaceBook revenues without following their platform changes, and goes on to say he is now betting that his new VP of marketing will be turning on a ton of paid marketing channels (and then distracts the reader with a diatribe about the financial system, which should really have been a separate post).
I fear that the plain & honest English translation of the turning on a ton of paid marketing channels marketrese is yet more spam from FamilyLink.

2010-07-23 FamilyLink selling MyFamily

FamilyLink has decided to sell yet another asset. On the FaceBook Developer's forum, Paul Allen has put the FaceBook app MyFamily up for sale and remarks I need to sell this in the next 2-3 weeks, at the latest..

One reader responded with a pertinent question, I'm interested.  Can you please send more info.  Also, how do you envision this app will be affected once FB kills profile boxes in the next month or so?  I'd imagine that a lot of your new users come from profile boxes?, to which another reader responded Ouch!.

2011-04-22 FamilyLink blog

The WorldVitalRecords blog still exists, but the FamilyLink blog appears to have been taken offline.

2011-04-23 FamilyLink tweet

FamilyLink has deleted the With #FamilyLink Plus you can search through thousands of #genealogy databases and find millions of ancestors! tweet. The broken link has been removed.

2012-05-22 FaceBook Developer Forum

On 2011 Sep 1, the FaceBook developer forum became read-only. FaceBook has designated Stack Overflow as its official developer support forum.
By now, the old FaceBook developer forum has been deleted. The broken link to the 2MM MAU app for sale post has been removed.

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