With the push of an aul’ button or two, The Wild Geese Irish Social Network, aka TheWildGeese.com, has been reborn, becoming TheWildGeese.Irish. (Try typing it in your browser. It works!)

Finally, we have digitally married The Wild Geese to the Irish with a clear, concise and fetching (we think) new domain name. And with this, we bring a renewed commitment to, as our updated logo, pronounces, “Exploring the heritage of the Irish worldwide.”

We’ve become only the second dot-Irish domain name to go live. This new top level domain is brought to the world by Dot-Irish LLC, based in Ireland and the United States, with the mission of “providing the global Irish community with a distinctive digital identity that will help the community connect, grow and prosper.” Amen to that! And stay tuned for further news about the Dot-Irish offering, which becomes generally available in June.

This re-imagining is only the latest of an ongoing series of innovations and service to our members and Heritage Partners, in this, The Wild Geese social network's 25th month.

A week ago, we launched our Premium Irish Heritage Partnership, with Tourism Ireland and Wild West Irish Tours in the vanguard. The Premium Heritage Partnership is indeed special. Not only does it confer all the benefits of our vaunted (and very cost-effective) Irish Heritage Partnership, but these remarkable marketers become a part of everything we do here, with a presence on every page viewed, nearly 100,000 per month (as of January 2015).

Expect an announcement shortly about our first travel initiative, with a focus on ‘The Wild West’ of Ireland. With this, our members who have not yet visited any of the counties of Clare, Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon, Donegal and Derry may win a tour to ‘The Wild West,’ courtesy of Heritage Partner Wild West Irish Tours. Stay tuned for details.

We have immersed our readership in four content focuses since the first of the year, exploring Love -- Irish Style in Gra XOXO; ‘The Irish in New Orleans;’ ‘Tis Herself,’ a look at the formidable and often unsung contributions of Irish women worldwide; and a just completed exploration of “St. Patrick’s Day Around the World.”Upcoming is a look at the legacy of The Easter Rising, arguably the most formative event in 20th century Irish history. By the way, if you have a topic you’d like to help present to our fellow readers, please contact our community coordinator, Greg Lynch. 

We’ll be launching a booklovers club this spring, as well, with details forthcoming. On its heels, we anticipate a weeks-long look at ‘Books Irish’: Writing, Publishing and Finding the Stories of the Irish Worldwide.’ If you are interested in learning more, contact our content concierge, Kelly O’Rourke.

Late last year, we launched a special monthly newsletter for our Irish Heritage Partners and others who want to learn more about Irish heritage marketing, and particularly marketing using TheWildGeese.Irish. The newsletter has already attracted nearly 200 subscribers.

On July 4, 1940, 75 years ago, two New York police detectives, Joe Lynch and Freddy Socha, were killed while examining a satchel containing a bomb placed in the British Pavilion at the New York World’s Fair. We’re interested in crowdsourcing this unsolved crime with the help of our fellow members. When looking at Britain in 1940, at war with Germany and Italy and rocked by an IRA bombing campaign less than a year earlier, there was no shortage of the ‘usual suspects.' If you’d like to join our informal team of Internet-based sleuths, shoot Gerry Regan an e-mail.

We again welcome the following Irish Heritage Partners, who’ve joined us in 2015: Benny’s Ireland, Author Mary Thorpe ("That's Just How It Was"), Finn McCool’s Irish Pub (New Orleans), Mary McSweeney Irish Artist, Totally Irish Gifts, Irish Tourism, and singer Andy Cooney.  And a hearty go raibh maith agaibh, as well, to our 3,540+ members (as of yesterday). You can learn more about The Wild Geese Irish Heritage Partnership here. To become one of The Wild Geese, use this link.

It sure is becoming a great big (dot-Irish) world! And we're thrilled you've chosen to be a part of it!