New features on dynastree

The following is from dynastree.

Hamburg, September 8, 2009 – The genealogy network for families, dynastree, has just been updated to a new version. It includes several new features, such as a view-only invitation, a new GEDCOM-file export including profile pictures, and a display showing which members of the family are also online. A variety of minor and major bugs have also been fixed in the new version.

Users can now invite relatives through the new view-only invitation (premium feature), which makes showing the tree to others possible, without having to give them full access. View –only users can see every detail of the family tree, but they cannot edit anything or invite further people to it. A long-requested feature has been implemented with the possibility to include profile pictures in a GEDCOM-file export. All profile pictures of one’s family tree are now backed up as well; the users can then easily and conveniently import the GEDCOM-file again - without having to re-add each picture manually.

More detailed profile information can now be ascribed to persons, as a lot of items have been added to the pre-defined list. Those include a variety of religious ceremonies, details of military service and decorations, and immigration data. It is also possible to add custom events and details, should one not find the right item from the pre-defined ones.

Another interesting feature, especially for ambitious genealogists, is the Kekulé-number, which is also known as the Ahnentafel (German for ancestor table) numbering system. This internationally accepted system describes the ancestral relations through numbers. The progenitor is assigned the number one, while the male descendants are assigned ascending even numbers, and ascending odd numbers are assigned to the female descendants. Dynastree now features this numbering system - the corresponding number can be seen on every profile.

Profile of dynastree.com

According to experts, dynastree.com and its international language versions have been among the fastest growing social networks worldwide in the last two years. By now, more than nine million families have created their tree at dynastree.com, and more than 15.000 new family trees are added each day. The venture capital corporations Neuhaus Partners and Hasso Plattner (co-founder of SAP) Ventures recognized the young start-up’s potential early and support dynastree.com as investors. Dynastree.com was founded by the experienced internet entrepreneurs Daniel Grözinger and Sven Schmidt. They have already founded and maintained several internet projects since studying together, such as getgo.de (an online ticketing service), and the FIFA Soccer World Cup Ticketing Center (responsible for managing the ticketing for the FIFA Soccer World Cup in Germany in 2006).

Finding relatives via the internet

The following is from dynastree.com - better late than never!

Hamburg, August 18, 2009 – The social network for families, dynastree.com, features more than 90 million profiles from around the world and is one of the largest communities of families worldwide. dynastree now introduces a new search function which automatically scans searches for potential relatives, and automatically notifies the user about matching profiles.

dynastree's large, international database is steadily expanded and makes finding family members via the internet easier than ever before. "A person's knowledge about relationships within the family and the family's history is limited. dynastree's new hinting function automatically notifies you when potential relatives are found, a great service. I have discovered a branch of my family in Germany that I had no idea about" says 64-year old James Gersheimer from Kane County (IL).

A further expansion of one's tree becomes possible throught the new merging function, which lets users combine existing family trees. IF a user finds new family members with a tree of their own via the hinting function, both trees can be merged into a larger, common tree. Daniel Grözinger, co-founder of dynastree, explains: "This has always been our vision: to connect the world based on user-generated content. Family trees can now be merged into one big common tree with just one click, and one meets a lot of new relatives at one dash".

Sven Schmidt, the second founder of dynastree, adds: "With dynastree, we would also like to show the elder generation which opportunities the internet opens. A mere ten years ago, it would have been unimagineable to explore one's family's history so easily". The new features allow families from all around the world to connect and stay in touch, regardless of national or language boundaries. The number of families that have created their family tree at dynastree will reach 10 million during the next weeks, and the growth will continue.

Profile of dynastree.com

According to experts, dynastree.com and its international language versions have been among the fastest growing social networks worldwide in the last two years. By now, more than nine million families have created their tree at dynastree.com, and more than 15.000 new family trees are added each day. The venture capital corporations Neuhaus Partners and Hasso Plattner (co-founder of SAP) Ventures recognized the young start-up’s potential early and support dynastree.com as investors.

Dynastree.com was founded by the experienced internet entrepreneurs Daniel Grözinger and Sven Schmidt. They have already founded and maintained several internet projects since studying together, such as getgo.de (an online ticketing service), and the FIFA Soccer World Cup Ticketing Center (responsible for managing the ticketing for the FIFA Soccer World Cup in Germany in 2006).

Surname distribution maps on dynastree.com

Press Release from dynastree.com

Surname distribution maps on dynastree.com

Hamburg, August 11, 2009 – The family network dynastree.com features maps for showing the distribution of one's surname for eight countries at the moment. Such maps are not only available for the US, Canada, the UK, but also for Spain, France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland. Versions for the Netherlands and Argentina will follow soon.

The free map service, which shows the absolute and relative distribution of surnames for the respective countries, is based on data from telephone books and address databases. One can very easily and quickly get an overview of the geographical distribution and origin of one's own surname. The name of interest only has to be entered into a search field to view the corresponding map. Statistics about the number of persons with the same name are shown for single counties or regions. The relative display of the distribution also factors in the distortion caused by metropolitan areas.

These maps are a helpful service and very popular among the users, it is especially used to narrow down research of one's own family history to single regions. The results can be used to research the origin of a name, and to find further trails of the family's history. If the name searched for is not limited to one country, the user is notified and can also use the international maps for displaying the name's distribution there. This is useful to track down ancestors or relatives if the family emigrated from a country decades or centuries ago. The name "Jackson" for instance is found only about 1,000 times, while there are about 640,000 entries in the US. It is therefore on the 18th rank of the most frequent surnames in the US.

The surname distribution maps can also be integrated into blogs created with WordPress, dynastree.com offers such a widget. It only takes some minutes to let the visitors of one's blog access the maps. The widget also automatically recognizes the visitors' language settings and shows the corresponding map in the right language.

Profile of dynastree.com

According to experts, dynastree.com and its international language versions have been among the fastest growing social networks worldwide in the last two years. By now, more than nine million families have created their tree at dynastree.com, and more than 15.000 new family trees are added each day. The venture capital corporations Neuhaus Partners and Hasso Plattner (co-founder of SAP) Ventures recognized the young start-up’s potential early and support dynastree.com as investors.

Dynastree.com was founded by the experienced internet entrepreneurs Daniel Grözinger and Sven Schmidt. They have already founded and maintained several internet projects since studying together, such as getgo.de (an online ticketing service), and the FIFA Soccer World Cup Ticketing Center (responsible for managing the ticketing for the FIFA Soccer World Cup in Germany in 2006).

dynastree.com offers free 14-day trial premium subscription and adds new features

The following press release is from dynastree

Free 14-day trial subscription to dynastree’s premium version

Hamburg, July 29, 2009 – The family network dynastree.com just deployed a new version which comes with several new features and improvements, such as better hinting, a variety of PDF-lists of one’s family tree, and the possibility to upload and share documents. Dynastree would like to offer all users the possibility to test the premium subscription with its many additional features, free of charge and with no obligations. Therefore, it is now possible to get a 14-day trial period of the premium services, which can be canceled at any time during the trial period. This gives users the opportunity to test the many additional premium features dynastree offers before actually subscribing. The premium features include full usage of the recently introduced extended search, a premium family page, automatic profile match, and more. The free PDF-files of one’s family tree included in the regular premium subscription are not included in the free trial subscription, but it can be converted to a regular subscription at any time.

It is now possible to create different kinds of lists from the family trees, including a list of ancestors, a list of descendants, a birthday list, and a family list. The lists adhere to official genealogical standards and are numbered following the Kekulé-system (list of ancestors), an internationally accepted system that numbers male descendants with even numbers and female descendants with odd numbers, starting at 1 for the original person. Premium users can create as many lists as they like, at no additional charge.

The new features also include the possibility to upload documents of all kinds, such as genealogical records, letters, certificates, etc. These can be shared with family members also active on dynastree, allowing the users to access such documents remotely.

Furthermore, the hinting on dynastree has been improved. The number of matches for each profile is now displayed for each user, premium users can access the actual matches to find possible relatives and collaborate with them.

Profile of dynastree.com

According to experts, dynastree.com and its international language versions have been among the fastest growing social networks worldwide in the last two years. By now, more than nine million families have created their tree at dynastree.com, and more than 15.000 new family trees are added each day. The venture capital
corporations Neuhaus Partners and Hasso Plattner (co-founder of SAP) Ventures recognized the young start-up’s potential early and support dynastree.com as investors.
Dynastree.com was founded by the experienced internet entrepreneurs Daniel Grözinger and Sven Schmidt. They have already founded and maintained several internet projects since studying together, such as getgo.de (an online ticketing service), and the FIFA Soccer World Cup Ticketing Center (responsible for managing the ticketing for the FIFA Soccer World Cup in Germany in 2006).

Turkish version of dynastree is online

Hamburg, June 30, 2009 – Two years ago, the German version of dynastree was launched, and all major European languages have followed during the steady expansion. From now on, dynastree is also available in Turkish as www.akrabaonline.com, which is the first non-European language added to its wide range of languages. According to comScore.com, Turkey ranks seventh (compared to the online audiences of European countries) with more than 17 million internet users (April 2009, internet cafes excluded). Social networks and media sites draw a lot of the Turkish users’ heavy engagement (which surpasses all other countries’ users in terms of the amount of time spent per capita), says Mike Read, managing director.

Furthermore, the community of Turkish immigrants and naturalized descendants of immigrants is very large in many parts of Europe (particularly in Germany, France, and the Benelux countries). Connecting with relatives in Turkey and around the world was thus never easier, akrabaonline allows for accessing over 90 million profiles. The translation of all components enables Turkish-speaking people to use all parts of dynastree in their own language, regardless of where they live.

Along with the deployment of akrabaonline, an important new feature is introduced: the extended search function. It is now possible to include details like place of birth, place of residence, year of birth, and several other items. This ensures more precise hits when searching for one’s relatives, especially with very common names, or if only certain details are known that could previously not be searched for.

dynastree.com celebrates its 2nd birthday

Hamburg, June 22, 2009 – Creating a tree for one’s family is easier than ever, only basic computer skills are required for setting up profiles of relatives and ancestors. Families can easily create a tree showing all relatives and connecting the family, regardless of where the members live.

dynastree is already available in nine languages, and Turkish will follow soon. Altogether, more than 90 million profiles (weekly growth of more than 1 million profiles) exist on dynastree.com, and more than 9 million users are registered (weekly growth of more than 100,000 users). It is already the most successful social network focusing on families in Europe and Russia, and thus very well suited for connecting with relatives overseas, and finding trees with European ancestors.

The family’s site can be shared with friends and relatives, but detailed settings allow users to exactly define who has access to the site, and which information is shared. Extensive information can be entered for each person, from pictures to details such as education, place of birth, and much more. The center of the tree is the family’s blog, which serves as the bulletin board for communicating within the family. Using the included HTML-editor to create texts, add pictures, and links to other websites is easy.

dynastree also features a photo album, e.g. for uploading the pictures from the last family reunion, so that all members can see them online. It is also possible to compile interesting information about genealogy and ancestry. The family tree is well-suited for presenting research about the family’s heritage, for instance displaying ancestors’ places of birth overseas, or the stations across the US.

Other interesting features include maps showing the distributions of surnames in the US and elsewhere, the regularly published editor’s blog with interesting articles related to genealogy and dynastree.com, and a forum for discussing various topics with other users.

Profile of dynastree.com

According to experts, dynastree.com and its international language versions have been among the fastest growing social networks worldwide in the last two years. By now, more than nine million families have created their tree at dynastree.com, and more than 15.000 new family trees are added each day. The venture capital corporations Neuhaus Partners and Hasso Plattner (co-founder of SAP) Ventures recognized the young start-up’s potential early and support dynastree.com as investors.

Dynastree.com was founded by the experienced internet entrepreneurs Daniel Grözinger and Sven Schmidt. They have already founded and maintained several internet projects since studying together, such as getgo.de (an online ticketing service), and the FIFA Soccer World Cup Ticketing Center (responsible for managing the ticketing for the FIFA Soccer World Cup in Germany in 2006).

dynastree Maps Canadian Last Names

New York, March 5, 2009 – Family network dynastree just launched the Canadian version of its famous Surname Maps. The free tool that shows the surname distribution of more than 600,000 Canadian last names is the perfect companion for surname research.

The Canadian surnames, mostly of English and French origin, can be searched for under http://www.dynastree.ca. The distribution among the provinces is shown in a coloured map, the user can choose from relative or absolute distribution. With the help of dynastree’s tool, the origin of surnames can be researched quickly and easily.

Dynastree is a fast-growing family network to build a family tree. Once the family tree is started, relatives can be invited directly to add knowledge and help to extend its reach. Together, family members can enter information on other relatives and ancestors. The communication with relatives and friends can be established and carried on even if the connection had been lost or if they live far away.

Putin’s distant cousins in the US

New York, 20 February 2009 – International family network dynastree (www.dynastree.com) launches 9th language version: Russian relatives can now be searched for on semyaonline.ru.

About 142 million people live in Russia, more than enough to have a great probability of being related to at least one of them. dynastree, the worldwide family network has launched a Russian version of the free services offered all around the world in 10 languages. So far, all users can search the 75 million profiles database free of any charge to find out if they are related to for example the famous poet Alexander Pushkin, politician Vladimir Putin or tennis-starlet Anna Kournikova.

Here are 4 convincing facts to search for relatives on semyaonline.ru:

• since 1820 over 3,374,000 Russian people emigrated to the United States
• Russians have governed 15 republics with more than 151 million people for over 69 years
• Russia neighbors 14 countries and its territory extends itself over Europe and Asia
• 2008 was the family year in Russia, what made Russians more aware of their family legacy

Currently, there are more than 7.5 million family trees in the dynastree database, relatives can be invited to the family tree and several easy-to-use family communication features make staying in contact with even distant relatives a child’s play. The platform’s features are free to use and will continue expanding all around the globe.

About dynastree
Apart from the English site, the services are available in Germany (www.verwandt.de), in Poland (www.moikrewni.pl), Spain and South America (www.miparentela.com), Portugal (www.meusparentes.com.pt), Brazil (www.meusparentes.com.br), the Netherlands (www.verwant.nl), Italy (www.parentistretti.it), Russia (www.semyaonline.ru) and France (www.familleunie.fr). dynastree is supported by leading Business Angels, Hasso Plattner Ventures and Neuhaus Partners, a well-known venture capitalist.