Tech Crunch 50: Footnote.com: Giving New Meaning to the Term "Social History"

I was a history major in college, and back then social history was a term used to describe a movement that tried to better understand the lives of regular people -- not kings or moguls or industrialists but rather the life experiences of regular people.

Footnote is a different kind of social history, and yet in a way it isn't. It's just that in this instance, the historians are the public. And if there were ever an instance in which the wisdom of crowds can enrich understanding, it's history.

The foundation of footnote is a vast -- and I mean REALLY vast collection of over 40 million documents. Government records, photos, newspapers, comments, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Further the library grows by housing the constant flow of new contributions from members who are passionate about aspects of history. They started with a partnership with the National Archives, and then members have added huge quantities of documents since they wen live in January 2007.

So what kind of history are we talking about? Well, THAT is the beauty of Footnote. It reflects your interests as well as those of the many other members who piece together content on their terms. It can be as narrow as genealogy, or as broad as the study of a war.

But its in the area of genealogy that Footnote will likely add the most value for consumers. In fact, they were one of the sites featured two weeks ago on NBC's Today Show:



Key to the Footnote.com offering is a really strong search offering. Here's a short vid that outlines all of the ways it helps you single out the documents or other content that will enrich your historical view:



The different genealogy sites each have their strong points -- Footnote's search, document libraries, and social networking aspects makes their offering a strong contender in this HIGHLY lucrative space.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to write.