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Genealogy is often a neglected family practice. It seems archaic, time consuming, and an overall waste of time when the project gets lodged in the hall closet. Or at least it was until Geni arrive on the scene.

Geni is a beta site that aims to be a tool for understanding and staying in touch with your family. It was founded by former executives and early employees of PayPal, Yahoo! Groups, Ebay, and Tribe. It now proudly hosts over 5 million profiles of interconnected family members.

The site allows you to create a family tree through their fun and easy-to-use interface. You expand your “tree” by adding relatives’ email addresses. They are then sent an email inviting them to the “tree”, as well as asking them to bring some other family members on board with them. The tree will grow as your relatives invite each other.

Each family member receives their own profile that they can customize, which can be viewed by clicking their name in the tree. This is a great way for families to learn more about each other and stay in touch, in spite of great distance.

Beginning in September, Geni added a feature allowing members to send messages to groups of their family and friends. You can add your own custom groups in addition to the ones Geni has created for you, such as “My Immediate Family,” “My Family,” and “My Friends.” They’ve even added the ability to send messages to users outside your tree, which is a useful feature that allows you to collaborate with other Geni users who share your research interests and connect with potential family members.

Most recently, this month Geni has made some behind the scenes changes to the site that should improve the performance of larger trees. They have added features like the Blood Relative Count, which appears on your profile in the “User Stats” section; it includes a count of your Blood Relative and In-Laws. They also removed their relationship limitations, which previously limited cousin and grandparent descriptions (the limit was third cousin and the 30th great-grandparent). They also made slight changes to step, immediate, and partner relationships that can be seen further upon creating a profile with them.

Making your family tree virtual is bound to bring everyone together, and make those family reunions a lot less awkward.