Seasonal Changes in Genealogy Interest

Did you just find yourself a little too busy to get going on your genealogy recently? Does it look like your summer might be too filled with other activities and you will not get much done on your research? Does the traffic at the Mesa FamilySearch Library become very sparse as the days get hotter and more people flee to the mountains or the coast? If that is the case, then you are simply experiencing the annual cycle of genealogical interest. I can see it plainly in my blog statistics and I am sure that everyone associated with genealogy sees the same pattern. Interest in genealogy peaks in about February or March and then slides downhill until August. With Fall and back to school, interest begins to pick up again and the cycle starts over.

This is the case, at least in part, because genealogy is a part-time pursuit for most and only a full-time job for a relatively few. Of course, there are those of us who can't afford to slow down in the summer. We have conferences to attend and presentations to make, blog posts to write, research to do and compile and I always have the never ending pile of documents to scan and organize. Summer for me will be almost as busy as February or March, just not quite so many conferences and seminars.

I don't have the statistics to show how traffic on the major genealogical websites is affected by the seasons, but my best guess is that the interest waxes and wanes with the months just as the traffic at the FamilySearch Library and my blog.

So, for those of you who are getting involved the the usual summer activities, we hope to see you again in the Fall. But for those of you who stay around, thanks for reading and listening.