I’ll be the first to admit that I have the social skills of a mole. Once I start digging, I’m blind, deaf, and (some would say) dumb. So you won’t find me hanging out on Facebook, Twitter, or MySpace for any great length of time. My Friends List is more like a footnote.

How-EV-er, I’ll also admit that when LNU (Last Name Unknown) becomes my most immediate obsession, I will go to any lengths to reach that OMG (Oh. My. God.) conclusion. So I’m willing to give social networking, aka Genealogy 2.0, a try.

I signed up for Facebook (rick(at)rickleonard.com), managed to shoot myself in the foot by having two accounts, got a bunch of Friend requests from people I don’t know, and discovered that Facebook has a metric buttload (technical term) of genealogy/family history/family tree apps. The disheartening part is that I can’t tell one from another and find absolutely NO references to the Leonard surname.

Now, I could be wrong (and it would be a first), but MySpace strikes me as Jr Hi 2.0 with background music, so I won’t go there. You guys go look and let me know if there’s anyone over the age of consent, ‘k?

Next, I headed over to MyHeritage.com, which has been around since Jesus was an intern (four years, Internet Time). I do a search for the Leonard surname and discover that no fewer than twenty-five Leonard Family groups have been created in just the past 30 days. Hm-m-m.

Geni.com is all about family, designed to give family members a place to collaborate on their family tree, family timeline, family news and calendars. I don’t know about you guys, but my immediate family already thinks I’m genealogically “teched.” Collaboration seems unlikely. MyFamily.com is yet another extension of the Ancestry.com empire and offers much of the same.

GenealogyWise.com is the latest entry in the social genealogy sweepstakes. A subsidiary of FamilyLink.com, GenealogyWise claims to have 3,000 users and 10,000 entries since it opened its doors… yesterday! And again, the idea is share, share, share. I have no idea how the masses are supposed to find each other when there are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of individual groups purportedly researching the same basic thing.

All that said… If ya can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em, I always say. The GenealogyWise group “Descendants of Solomon Leonard” is up and operating at http://www.genealogywise.com/group/descendantsofsolomonleonard .

So how ’bout you? Got any great Genealogy 2.0 suggestions?