Family Tree DNA launched a new blog when no one was looking! The first article is dated June 1st.
You can take a look here.
The other three major testing companies also publish blogs, although Family Tree DNA is the only one of the three that doesn’t have a business interest elsewhere. In other words, both Ancestry and MyHeritage would like to sell you a subscription to go along with your DNA test, and 23andMe’s primary focus is and has always been medical research.
I highly recommend those genealogy subscriptions though, because genetics is only one half of genetic genealogy. However, that also means that those blogs cover much broader topics than just incorporating DNA into your research.
- Ancestry’s blog is here.
- The MyHeritage blog is here. Coincidentally, imagine my surprise to discover that today’s article is about my friend and cousin, Marie Rundquist, who recently broke through a huge brick wall utilizing DNA, her ingenuity, plus records. Small world, indeed!
- 23andMe’s blog is here.
Blogs are a great way to keep current with the latest news from vendors and learn how to best utilize their tools.
Join me in my next few articles where I’ll be talking about each vendor’s best feature, the biggest vendor differences and transferring autosomal raw DNA files between vendors.
If you haven’t already subscribed to this blog, you can do so easily by clicking on the little grey “follow” box, near the top right of your computer screen. Subscribers receive articles in their e-mail every time a new article is published.
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I receive a small contribution when you click on some of the links to vendors in my articles. This does NOT increase the price you pay but helps me to keep the lights on and this informational blog free for everyone. Please click on the links in the articles or to the vendors below if you are purchasing products or DNA testing.
Thank you so much.
DNA Purchases and Free Transfers
- Family Tree DNA
- MyHeritage DNA only
- MyHeritage DNA plus Health
- MyHeritage FREE DNA file upload
- AncestryDNA
- 23andMe Ancestry
- 23andMe Ancestry Plus Health
- LivingDNA
Genealogy Services
Genealogy Research
- Legacy Tree Genealogists for genealogy research
Could you please explain what is available in the different levels of My Heritage? It seems that every time I click for more information, I am not subscribed to that level.
Actually, yes, that’s on my list.
Oh, yes! Please do. I’ve often wondered if MyHeritage was actually helpful in research. I’ve been so disappointed with their matches (both DNA and traditional), I haven’t really cared to use their research capacity.
Thanks for the update- I have to say, I was expecting more depth. Disappointing. Maybe it will improve with time.
Nice that they have started it but it’s pretty weak on content. It was (!) a good idea to keep it quiet until they had a bit more substance.
Hi Roberta, I would enjoy subscribing to the FamilyTreeDNA blog. I cannot find, however, a little gray box marked “follow” in the upper right hand corner of my computer screen. Please help. 😀 Danny
On Wed, Jul 18, 2018 at 1:33 PM, DNAeXplained – Genetic Genealogy wrote:
> Roberta Estes posted: ” Family Tree DNA launched a new blog when no one > was looking! The first article is dated June 1st. You can take a look here. > The other three major testing companies also publish blogs, although Family > Tree DNA is the only one of the three that do” >
I’m sorry Danny, that instruction was for my blog for people who aren’t subscribed..
Roberta, Excellent information, as usual. You did the mtDNA study for my Family Tree results in 2014, and I have followed your Blog since that time. I am finally getting into much greater detail on the suggestions that you made, for direct maternal lineage research, in that report. Thank you for all that you do to further knowledge of genetic and genealogical research. I am now subscribed to a couple more Blogs!
Roberta, your suggestions are always such good advice. I’ve learned it is beneficial to test at more than one company so I’ve now (finally) tested at all the big 3: FTDNA, AncestryDNA, and 23andMe. One thing you’ve never mentioned that I can recall is database size. Did you ever write about that. Since autosomal DNA is the most available test, that’s what others use in comparing database size. Someone needs to point out that FTDNA may have the smallest atDNA database but they have the largest yDNA and mtDNA databases. Furthermore, few actually go into detail explaining how a testing company’s database size is estimated and why the size of their database is important. The best article I’ve seen on that subject is one that’s a year old located here:
http://thednageek.com/estimating-the-sizes-of-the-genealogical-atdna-databases/
This same blogger posts a very nice (but sadly a year old) graph here:
http://thednageek.com/autosomal-testing-growth-graph-now-with-gedmatch/
I wonder if there’s more current research located elsewhere?
Some vendors don’t release that info. It’s also debatable just how reliable it is, plus, if more than half of your customers don’t participate in matching or are only interested in ethnicity and don’t engage, for example, the numbers are truly misleading.