You may have noticed that we’ve made the transition to a new blog page format. The look and feel is not dramatically different but you will see a few new features that will make this blog page easier to use and much more dynamic. We hope you’ll be pleased, and we look forward to your feedback.
The new blog page includes the following features:
Word Searching Through all Past Blog Entries
Finding an older blog article just got a lot easier. You can search through all of the blogs by title, author or by topic. For example, if you want to find all blog articles that deal with the 1940 U.S. Census, simply type1940 U.S. Census in the search box in the upper right corner of the page and press Enter. All blog articles that deal with the 1940 census will appear in order of date of publication. Or, if you want to search for all articles written by a specific submitter, type in their name and you will see everything that person has submitted. This is a wonderful feature that will make older blog content much more accessible.
Response to Blog Comments
In the past we did not have a good system for responding to the comments of individual bloggers. Many bloggers wanted to know that that they were being listened to and we didn’t have a good way to do that. However, with this new blog format, we can respond to each specific comment when appropriate. Other people can follow the tread of communication and even add their own comments to the discussion as well. This new way of communicating will make it possible for us to do much more in responding directly to your comments and address your specific questions. You will find this a better alternative to what we were working with in the past.
Social Networking
This new format allows you to stay connected with the FamilySearch blog through whatever social networking service you have. You can stay connected through RSS feed, Twitter, and Facebook. Simply click on the social network service you want to use and provide the information needed to create a connection. It’s that easy!
Categories
You can also view all blog articles by topic if you want to focus your reading to a specific area. On the right side of the page, under the column marked Categories, click on one of the nine categories available. If you click What’s New at FamilySearch? all blog entries dealing with changes to FamilySearch will appear in chronological order.
Recent Comments
The Recent Comments column provides a “view at a glance” of the newest 5 blog comments that have been posted to the site.
Conclusion
We’re pleased to make this new blog format available to you. Try it and see how easy it is to use. We’re convinced you will like it; if not, we know we’ll hear about it and we’ll have a way to respond.
