There's a revolution happening in cyberspace and it's great for people looking for family history information.

There are millions of genealogy blogs holding information and everyone also seems to be on Twitter and Facebook.

How can you utilize these sites to find out information and reconnect?

Let's start with blogs.

According to a recent Google search by ProGenealogists.com, there are almost 500,000 "genealogy blog" options and some 3.5 million "family history" blogs. The exact number doesn't really matter - there are a lot of them. My own search showed many more.

ProGenealogists just published its 25 Top Genealogy Blogs of 2009; find it here. Here's a bit more about some of the top-ranked ones.

Niche or specialist blogs can provide detailed information from many sources to those interested in a specific topic. Dedicated genealogy bloggers often read hundreds of blogs and news sources each week to distill important news for readers, whether it is general or a very localized blog topic. Few people have time to devote that much time to digging out relevant information on a regular basis.

Genealogy blogs report on events, books, technology, history and many topics connected in some way to family history. They are the first to report on new Internet resources, websites, databases.

Two of the most popular blog platforms are Blogger and Wordpress.

Some writers focus on their own familes and specialized research, or use a blog as a research journal to record work they have done and information discovered and to share it. Others maintain family sites on MyHeritage.com and also write blogs for even wider Internet exposure in their quest for family connections.

Blogging is a great way to let others know what you are doing, and it helps possible relatives around the world find YOU.

One that concentrates on the author' detailed family records is Steve Danko's Genealogy Blog.

Some blogs are devoted to a particular ethnicity like Jasia's Creative Gene on Polish ethnicity, or CanadaGenealogy.

Some are general topic sources, such as Kimberly Powell's About.com Genealogy, or Dick Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Randy Seaver of Genea-Musings offers helpful reviews of software and technical devices. DearMYRTLE was the first to utilize podcasts, and she writes several blogs on different aspects of her interests.

And we even have our own resident comedian, Chris Dunham's The Genealogue is always good for a family history-related quirky giggle.

Also, as far as technology and innovations is concerned, Blaine Bettinger's Genetic Genealogist discusses DNA issues.

There is even a blog devoted to disasters that may have impacted the lives of our ancestors, Stu Beitler's GenDisasters.

View the complete list at the link above for more information and links to each blog. To find more general and specialty blogs, visit The Genealogy Blog Finder or Cyndi's List.

Additionally, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have enabled many family historians to locate relatives. I was dragged - kicking and screaming - into Facebook by a genealogy blogger colleague - he did a great job and nearly all of us are now on Facebook.

The Internet changes so rapidly that family history researchers must be aware of how to access every possible resource, including those created by companies, organizations and individual researchers.

Digital genealogy expert Drew Smith has had a lifelong interest in family history. In real life, he is a University of South Florida academic librarian. He's a director of the Federation of Genealogical Societies (FGS) and Florida Genealogical Society (Tampa) president, well-known co-host of the weekly Genealogy Guys Podcast and contributes to Digital Genealogist magazine.

He has just authored "Social Networking for Genealogists" (Genealogical Publishing Co., Baltimore, Maryland, 2009). I've just read it and wanted to let you about it.

While not a heavy tome, its concise 129 pages set out the nuts and bolts of how the social information revolution can benefit each of us on our journeys down Discovery Road. The book covers - in a concise easy-to-read manner - podcasts, RSS, tags, wikis, genealogy social networks, general social networks, message boards, mailing lists, sharing photos and videos, collaborative editing, blogs, sharing personal libraries and even virtual worlds.

Each chapter begins with a definition. The first chapter asks 'What is social networking, and what does it mean for genealogists and their research methods?" followed by:

social networking (noun): A way of using online resources and services to create and maintain a community of individuals who share a common interest.

While social networking used to mean meeting people face-to-face, it is no longer exclusively a physical term. While in-person relationships are an important part of human society, we can now locate people around the world who share our interests - a community of like-minded individuals.

Technology means, writes Drew, that we now "go" to our e-mail box as if it were our home's physical mailbox, or a website as it were a store or meeting. For 10 years, online social networking sites and services have seen a remarkable increase, and some have been designed exclusively for genealogists. Today, we also use general networking sites for genealogical research (such as Facebook and Twitter, which I have written about previously).

While family history researchers have been working on their families for hundreds of years without any technological assistance, other than a better ink or writing instrument, we now have many more resources to access in many different ways.