“What’s the best way to share my family photos & stories online?”
Sure, my primary focus is on creating books to preserve your stories—but at the end of the day, it’s my mission to help you ALL undertake some type of personal preservation project to ensure your legacy is passed on. And there’s no denying that we live much of our lives online these days.
While I love Facebook for keeping me updated as to what’s going on in my local community, and I can sure as heck get lost on some of my favorite Instagram feeds, I don’t recommend relying on ANY social media platform for permanent storage of your family archive. So, what if you want to share your family photos and stories online—for more than just a few fleeting likes?
I invited a memory-keeping colleague to share her thoughts on the matter—welcome NYC–based certified professional photo organizer Marci Brennan on why you should consider creating a family website:
Consider letting the whole family, from kids to grandparents, contribute to making your new family website.
Consider Making a Family Website
Staying in touch with family is paramount these days. Social media, for example, has been instrumental in helping us maintain relationships. But when it comes to tech, not everyone is comfortable with every social media site or app. This is even more important when considering family members of various ages. And social media sites often change their privacy policies. There’s also an increasing number of targeted, distracting ads on them.
Families are realizing that creating a dedicated family website is the best option. It provides a safe and secure place to share and preserve family history while avoiding the pitfalls of social media sites.
Many of these family websites are multi-functional. They offer a variety of services such as message boards, blogs, calendars, and other options. And they have aesthetically pleasing, user-friendly interfaces.
Here are a few of the benefits and features of a dedicated family website:
Access and sharing for all
Family sites level the accessibility field. Age and comfort with tech matter less, as the best sites make navigating their contents easy. All ages can access the site by typing a customized URL / domain name into their browser. Sites are device-agnostic. No special passwords or registration required.
easy connection to your family
Staying in contact with our families allows us to grow closer together. By using a family website, members can share their photos and videos as well as create events. It can become a family communication and library hub. Weddings, anniversaries, birthdays, and graduations can be shared, as well as other important events. Personal projects, movies, family recipes, and other tips can even have their own pages.
Preserving your history
Adding a family tree is a great way to manage, organize, and preserve your family heritage. Photos of people, special places, and memorabilia can inspire memories and spark conversations. Posting digitized versions of old media (such as 8mm, Super 8 and VHS tapes) add another layer of interest and history. Older family members can share and document their stories, preserving their memories. The current family as well as future generations will benefit.
Getting started
There are a few options to choose from when creating your family website. I recommend
…which are all dedicated to photography and family memories. Take a look at each site and see which one is best for you.
The Rewards
Many of us will accumulate a massive amount of photos in our lifetimes—tens of thousands, if not more. Perhaps your photos have been professionally scanned, organized and backed up on an external hard drive (or two) already. Or maybe, as the family historian, you have even done this yourself. While that is an essential step and an added layer of security, passing along your photo legacy on a family website to future generations is the ideal solution. This makes inheriting family photos much easier and more enjoyable for everyone. Sharing a curated family library with present and future generations is a timeless and uniquely precious gift.
about the author
Marci Brennan is a TPM certified professional photo organizer. She lives in Queens, New York, and works with her husband, videographer/photographer Chris George. Together they offer photo and video organizing services throughout New York City and beyond. At Past Present Pix their goal is to help busy families manage, organize, and preserve their photo and video collections so their valuable media is always at their fingertips and safely backed up.