MyHeritage and 23andme

I haven't written anything about genetic genealogy testing (here anyway), so here's my first foray into that arena.  I have tested at each of the three companies (23andme, Ancestry.com, FTDNA) and each definitely has their own unique set of pros and cons (saved for another time).  Right now I just wanted to weigh in quickly on the 23andme/MyHeritage partnership.

23andme recently partnered with MyHeritage to provide better family tree support.  In theory I find this to be a very good step forward for them.  Their pedigrees left more than a little to be desired.  In reality, I will be taking a wait and see approach.

I personally have not yet linked my own 23andme account(s) to my MyHeritage tree.  To be honest, I have not used it in a very long time (like 2009).  It had been so long in fact I had forgotten that I had purchased a 10 year long premium account there, again probably back in 2008/9.  If I recall correctly I did this so they wouldn't delete my tree and photos I had posted.  At the time I was highly intent on creating a site for my immediate family to connect (or essentially what Facebook is now).  Since I was either still in college or had just graduated college at the time and was in debt up to my eyeballs this was no small investment for me.

So, now roughly 6 years later, here I am potentially going back to MyHeritage.  Full circle I suppose.

Even without my account linked, I was already able to establish a connection with a 23andme member by searching his MyHeritage tree.  Would this connection have been found if he hadn't linked through them?  I'm honestly not sure.  He did accept sharing with me, and he did have a few surnames posted but none of those would have gotten me back to our connection (4th cousin with my father).

What it will still ultimately boil down to is exactly how much people are willing to share and explore connections.  If they aren't, this won't add a lot to the genealogy side of 23andme.  If however people do become more intrigued by their history because of the functionality at MyHeritage, this could provide a well-needed shot in the arm to the otherwise endless list of anonymous matches at 23andme.

If anyone else has any thoughts on the matter though I'd be interested to hear them.  Especially anyone who did not already have a tree at MyHeritage.