Yesterday’s Facebook LIVE presentation for MyHeritage was lots of fun for everyone, and now it’s available for anyone who might have missed it, here.
I must say, I was stunned that so many people tuned in. We had just under 5000 watching live, with just under 500 comments. There were literally people from all over the world – with perhaps the exception of the locations where it was the dead of night. A day later, there are already more than 9000 views. I hope everyone is enjoying the session.
It felt good to be connected, even if it was electronically. It was still “live.”
I saw people I knew saying “hey,” DNA matches, known cousins, longtime friends, and at least one person with a fairly rare surname from a location that I suspect shares one of my ancestors.
How cool is that?!
For people who are curious about how this works, I was too, so here’s a short explanation.
The Back Story
One day last week, MyHeritage invited me to create this seminar. I thought it would be nice – given that our lives are all disrupted right now.
They suggested half an hour to an hour, including Q&A time, but being just a tad over-zealous, mine went a little long. The entire session, plus Q&A was an hour and a quarter. It’s impossible to do triangulation justice in a short time because the presenter must first explain how and why triangulation works, and why it’s important. You can’t just dive into the middle of that pool.
Also, just to be very clear, I created this video as a volunteer – I wasn’t paid, and I’m not compensated for this or any other article either. I don’t write articles for money or in exchange for anything. If I do receive something, like a book to review that I did not purchase, I say so. My opinions are my own and not for sale.
Working as a member of a worldwide team is interesting, in part because of the time factor. Israel is 7 hours different from my time in the US, so our practice session on Sunday was quite late for their team members, Esther who you met online and Talya, working behind the scenes.
The underlying platform is a product called BeLive which records the session, provides the chat capability and interfaces with Facebook. This means that the computers, cameras and audio (headsets) of all of the people involved must all be compatible with BeLive, given that Esther and Talya are moderating and handling things like which screen is showing and moderating the chat questions. The speaker really can’t do any more than focus on their topic.
I had planned to use my laptop to present against the backdrop of my fireplace in the living room. If you’re going to have a few thousand people “over,” you might as well hostess in the nicest part of your home, right?
BeLive was challenging on my end, to put it mildly. My husband and I both spent several hours, as did Talya and Esther, trying to make things work. The camera and audio on my laptop worked just fine using other platforms, like Skype and Google Hangouts – but absolutely refused to work with BeLive. Even BeLive technical support was baffled. Nothing worked – although my husband, not to be bested by a computer, installed the desktop version of BeLive (which wasn’t supposed to be necessary), then uninstalled the plugins and reinstalled them, toggled the camera, and it magically began to work. But by that time, I had already changed courses.
Compounding the challenge, my laptop, in the midst of those efforts, just died – as in spontaneously went entirely black. No, the battery wasn’t dead, and no, I didn’t have confidence after that. I was afraid that “sudden death” would happen in the middle of the presentation. I always have to be vigilant, because Murphy lives with me and is ever-present, always lurking about.
I made the decision to shift to my desktop. It’s a newer system, but so new that it’s not entirely configured yet, I hadn’t yet used it for webinars, and I’m not completely familiar with how things work in that new environment either.
Thankfully, BeLive worked well on the desktop system and we were able to complete our practice run. It was past time for Talya and Esther to hit the hay, but I needed to clean my office, at least the part behind and beside me, where viewers could see.
So, if you’re wondering if my desk is always entirely clear, the answer would be a resounding “no.” I wasn’t about to have a messy office with company coming over😊
Actually, one of the things I liked when I watched the other MyHeritage Facebook LIVE sessions with Daniel Horowitz and Ran Snir was the homey nature. You know the presenters are recording from someplace in their house and I felt grateful to them for making that extra effort.
DNA Kits Aren’t Quarantined
You might not be able to visit grandma or your relatives, but you can still order DNA tests and have them delivered through the mail. Mother’s Day is May 10th. Order those DNA tests, here. Your gift to them and their DNA gift to you will continue solving family mysteries forever.
The Video
Now that you’ve learned more about the video production aspect than you ever wanted to know, you can watch the presentation online by clicking on the video, below. This part is super easy!
Note that it has been reported that this embedded link is not viewable in Firefox, so please use Chrome. If you do not see the video displayed below and can’t click to view, just click here.
Enjoy!!!
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Disclosure
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
- FamilyTreeDNA – Y, mitochondrial and autosomal DNA testing
- MyHeritage DNA – ancestry autosomal DNA only, not health
- MyHeritage DNA plus Health
- MyHeritage FREE DNA file upload – transfer your results from other vendors free
- AncestryDNA – autosomal DNA only
- 23andMe Ancestry – autosomal DNA only, no Health
- 23andMe Ancestry Plus Health
- LivingDNA
Genealogy Products and Services
- MyHeritage FREE Tree Builder – genealogy software for your computer
- MyHeritage Subscription with Free Trial
- Legacy Family Tree Webinars – genealogy and DNA classes, subscription based, some free
- Legacy Family Tree Software – genealogy software for your computer
- Charting Companion – Charts and Reports to use with your genealogy software or FamilySearch
Genealogy Research
- Legacy Tree Genealogists – professional genealogy research
I don’t see the “link below”, so I can’t watch it again.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=275631996802612&ref=watch_permalink
Where is the link to the video?
It’s at the bottom of the article. If it’s not showing in the email correctly, go to my article webpage.
LInk is not on the webpage and not in the email.
It has been reported that it does not work in Firefox. But does in chrome.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=275631996802612&ref=watch_permalink
https://dna-explained.com/2020/04/28/free-myheritage-video-top-tips-for-triangulating-your-dna-matches-with-roberta-estes/
I cannot access it either.
Are you looking at the email or on the computer?
https://dna-explained.com/2020/04/28/free-myheritage-video-top-tips-for-triangulating-your-dna-matches-with-roberta-estes/
I was so angry with myself to have missed it by one hour. Thanks for the behind-the-scenes look at what is entailed for this BeLive video production and for your above-and-beyond volunteer “service” to genealogy. We truly appreciate your efforts and information.
I thought people might need a little something uplifting and this seemed like a good idea.
Link is missing…..
If you’re looking at the email, go to the webpage here. https://dna-explained.com/2020/04/28/free-myheritage-video-top-tips-for-triangulating-your-dna-matches-with-roberta-estes/
Just goes to the article. Not the video. Guess I won’t be able to see it.
Use Chrome. It’s been reported that it doesn’t work with other browsers.
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=275631996802612&ref=watch_permalink
When I click on the video link, I get message “Our broadcast will begin momentarily” but then nothing happens.
It should play. It did for me. It doesn’t start for a couple minutes. So you see the bar at the bottom?
They actually didn’t start until about 9 minutes in – so just slide the bar over.
Roberta,
Missed you yesterday but looking at your web page now, I am still not able to see a link to the video 🙁
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=275631996802612&ref=watch_permalink
I had same problem. When I disabled my uBlock and Ghostery tracker blockers, it worked fine.
The link does not show up in my Firefox browser, but it does appear in Chrome.
Thank you. I had no idea.
Roberta, One question I have that wasn’t answered yesterday is to explain why some people/segments look like they should triangulate, but don’t. If I compare my father and someone I know from his mothers side with someone I don’t know, I can see a triangulated segment. However, only half of the segment is triangulated, and the other half, which still looks like it matches both people, is not triangulated. Why??
Apparently, someplace there is enough of a mismatch that it doesn’t actually triangulate. If you can, check all three people individually. That’s the only explanation I can think of. Remember that there will always be some amount of mismatching because of no reads and erroneous reads. Matching ignores some of these so that segments won’t be divided when the issue isn’t mismatching, but is the nature of scanned reads. The other possibility is that that portion of the DNA actually doesn’t all match each other – which is why you need to check all three people against each other.
I’m in Chrome and the link tells me it will show in 75 minutes.
That’s odd. When I go to the link, it says it will begin shortly. Then slide over to about the 9 minute mark. https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=275631996802612&ref=watch_permalink
I slid the bar over and it worked. Many thanks, Roberta!
Slid over 10 and there you were. Have watched the video and enjoyed it. I have a question. At one point you showed information on C-13, C-14, and C-15. The left hand side of all three had identical large dead zones. I have the exact situation with both of my sisters who tested on FTDNA. Any idea what is happening?
Sometimes at the tips of the chromosomes, they don’t have many SNPs or are “messy” areas, so they are excluded from testing.
Roberta, thanks for posting a link to the video, I had problems, it would pause, then pick up in real time, so I was missing things, and gave up after a few minutes. Hopefully, I’ll be able to see your whole presentation. It was interesting to finally hear your voice after all these years!
Did I sound like what you had imagined? Now, when you read my articles, you will be able to “hear” me too:)
Think you still have to have a Facebook account to view? I don’t.
Yes, you do because it’s on their page.
Unfortunate that there is not a a provision to view this without a FACEBOOK subscription. There are still a few of us around.
Thank you so much for this wonderful information. I noticed you mentioned New Tazewell, TN. ( where I’m currently living) A good portion of my mother’s family is from this area. What are the chances my family lines are going to be so inter mixed I’m going to have a hard time trying to figure out her bf?
It depends on the family.