Courtesy of Natalie Webb’s Family Tree Tech Tuesday Tech Tips newsletter dated 10-June-2025.
Have you heard of Reddit? Maybe in passing, or perhaps you use it for some of your non-genealogy interests. Reddit is the technological descendant of message boards and forums that were popular in the past.
Reddit is a massive online community divided into smaller interest-based forums called subreddits. Similar to message board topics or threads, these forums cover virtually every topic imaginable—including genealogy. While it might seem like an unlikely place to do serious research, Reddit can be a surprising source of leads, strategies, and even record lookups from generous volunteers.
A subreddit has the naming convention r/<topic>. So some genealogy specific subreddits are:
You don’t need a reddit account to read most of the posts in a subreddit, however, you will need one to create your own posts. Some subreddits also require you to join (blue button on the top right) and be approved by a moderator before posting.
If you do decide to join a particular subreddit, you have the option of getting email notifications about the posts, especially posts that you create. If you ask a question, you can get responses sent directly to your email, so you don’t have to keep logging in to check for updates.
Reddit is massive, with over a billion users each month. That means that whatever your genealogical interest, you’re bound to find someone else (or several someone elses) looking for the same thing. It’s a great place to get questions answered, discuss research, or look for like-minded genealogists!
There’s also a Reddit app for both Android and iPhones, which is great if you need to look up a subreddit while you’re in an archive or cemetery. Why not check it out? You’re bound to find subreddits that are just what you’re looking for.
Submitted by Robin McCarthy
