My Heritage Website is a social genealogical networking site similar to familylink, geni, ancestry and many others with the exception of a few things. My Heritage allows you to create a family website, upload your family tree, create news and many more options similar to MyFamily. My Heritage also provides a unique feature that is more fun than scientific that will compare a picture of a child with pictures of the parents and tell you who the child looks like the most. The pictures below are an example of this process. The site wants you to upload a baby or child picture and then pictures of the parents. The pictures below are the same child and parents but just at different ages so you can see that the age of the child does make a difference when deciding which parent the child looks like. You also can upload a picture of someone and find their celebrity look-a-likes. I found this feature to be entertaining and thought that I would share with you so that you can take a break from your research to check out this site. Registration is not required to utilize this site, but if you decide you like what you see on this site, registration is free.
I joined this site so that I could test out some of the features of creating "Family Pages" and uploading of a "Family Tree". I found that when I am using this site that it seems to slow down my internet browser which indicates to me in my simplistic way of thinking that this site is a memory hog of your CPU. In all fairness to the site, it could just be my internet connection but I am not technically savvy enough to determine if the slowness is related to the site or my internet connection.
As I delved further into the MyHeritage website offerings, I discovered their unique research tool. I think that this is the most impressive genealogical option located on the site. This is what MyHeritage states about their research engine:
"With MyHeritage Research, your genealogy research becomes easier, because for the first time, you can:
* Search over 1350 genealogy databases with one "super" search, or focus on a smaller subset of databases that interest you
* Research several variants of a last name with one search to maximize hits and explore new avenues for research based on alternative spellings of a name. Read more about our Megadex™ technology.
* Do both: search multiple databases for multiple spelling variations, at once."
Please note that the search includes subscription and non-subscription databases. A few of the features of this search engine include but are not limited to:
1) Searching up to 10 different variations on the spelling of a name
2) Search 1350 plus genealogical databases through one search engine
3) You can schedule the search engine to run automatically and notify you of any new information.
4) You can also save your search results to review later.
The site also provides with you a Tip section regarding how to make the most effective use of their search engine and I would suggest that you read that prior to beginning your search.
This site also includes a community area where like facebook, myspace, and other social networking sites allow you to meet new people. The members in the community do not have to be interested in genealogy or family history so I am not sure that this area of the site would produce much benefit for those of you trying to connect up with other genealogists or family historians.
One other feature of this site is that it provides you with a free windows based genealogy program that you can download and use it to interact with the website if you wanted to have your data online at the site. It has some nice features including the standard pedigree and family group records and multimedia feature that allows you to annotate individuals in group pictures. This program also supports 21 different languages.
If you are interested in investigating the site further My Heritage is only a click away. Have fun! I know that I did!
4 comments:
Hello Jennifer!
I've browsed My Heritage several times looking at family trees there. I believe this feature was introduced since my last visit. I know I look more like my father, but it would be interesting to find just how much more.
Just for fun I submitted my photo to their Celebrity Look Alike program. According to the results I looked 72% like Rachel Weisz. (I wish!) Have you done the celebrity look alike? If yes, what were your results?
Thanks for the informative post!
Hi Virginia,
I am glad that you have had fun with My Heritage website. I have found it to be a fun site.
I too submitted one of my younger photos to the Celebrity Look Alike program and they said that I looked (76%) Heidi Klum, (67%) Amanda Peet, and (74%) Carrie Fisher. (I wish!) When I used an older picture, I looked more like (66%) Kevin Mitnick or (67%) Kristy Young. Imagine the suprise I felt when I was compared to a man (I was using the picture that is associated with my blog). Yikes! I prefer being compared to Heidi Klum, unfortunately, I don't look like her. Rats!
I think that who you look like depends upon the angle of your face and your age. Not very scientific, but fun to play with for the entertainment factor.
Hi Jennifer,
Thank you for this very interesting post. I really enjoyed reading it. I am so anxious to know if I'm more of my mom's or dad's girl:-)
Keep up the good work,
Antonia
Antonia,
I hope that you have fun finding out who you are most like....your mom or your dad. I found that when I did this with myself, it depended on my age whether I was most like my mother or father.
Have Fun!
Post a Comment