SOUND THE ALARMS! RING THE BELLS! RAISE THE SALES! ALERT! ALERT! ... AncestryDNA (Ancestry.com) has just released a new In Common With (ICW) feature aptly titled, SHARED MATCHES, which shows a list of your DNA matches that you and another DNA match share in common, meaning somewhere there is a common ancestor. If you and your parent tested there is also the MOM/DAD FILTER where you can view your DNA match list by either parent's side. We in the genosphere have been waiting, longing, yearning, and praying for this tool. Before this we didn't know where or how our [unknown] genetic relatives were related to us and each other. We had the arduous task of convincing our DNA matches to upload to Gedmatch.com in order to triangulate, and it's been extremely frustrating to say the least. AncestryDNA had indicated it would not make an ICW feature available. Back on November 3, 2014, AncestryDNA product manager Anne Swayne blogged about other new features in the works and then later the company released New Ancestry Discoveries ("a technical innovation that combines the latest in genetic science, new patent-pending algorithms, and access to AncestryDNA’s extensive database to push the boundaries of human genetics") and DNA Circles ("which brings together a group of individuals who all have the same ancestor in their family trees and where each member shares DNA with at least one other individual in the circle"). However these new features were controversial because they relied on other AncestryDNA customers' family tree information instead of actual shared DNA. Now AncestryDNA has answered our cries, yodels, screams. Since the SHARED MATCHES feature is so new, AncestryDNA did not send out any "official" e-mails and is apparently still tweaking it; for example all of the common matches I share with known family AND my twin kit (I took a second test) did not show up. But I'm very confident this will change soon. Again thank you AncestryDNA.
Now let's see how it works and where to find the feature:
According to AncestryDNA, "The shared matches list shows DNA matches that you and one of your DNA matches have in common. This might help you determine which family line you share or give you more evidence that you’re related to a specific person or match. For example, if you and your brother share DNA with a cousin, that cousin will show up as a shared match for both of you. Similarly, if you have a DNA match and your 2nd cousin has the same DNA match, this person would be a shared match to you and your 2nd cousin—and may help you determine how you’re related to this 2nd cousin." You can read the rest here:
So how do you find the new SHARED MATCHES list feature? Here are easy instructions:
Step 1. On your Ancestry.com homepage, click on the "DNA" tab:
Step 2. On your DNA homepage, click on "VIEW ALL DNA MATCHES":
Step 3. Once your DNA matches load, then click on any of your matches (I chose my twin kit, King Genome):
Step 4. Once you click on your match, there will be a link "SHARED MATCHES" (located right under match's profile name and Ethnicity Results):
Step 5. The next page will show your shared matches to the DNA profile you selected (As you can see below, I share two pages of matches with my twin kit. Of course I should share all 27 pages but this is an indication the feature is still being worked on):
And there you have it! Happy Hunting!
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