2010 in Review at "Your Genetic Genealogist"

I have been blogging just over six months and, during this time, I have been amazed at the response. I could never have imagined the kind of readership and encouragement that I would receive in such a short time. I am a simple layman, not a scientist, writing about what I love - genetic genealogy, yet I have been welcomed and encouraged by those in the forefront of personal genomics. I am deeply honored to have the opportunity to participate in this incredibly exciting emerging field of research.

In particular, I would like to thank Daniel MacArthur of Genetic Future and Genomes Unzipped, Dan Vorhaus of Genomics Law Report and Genomes Unzipped, Blaine Bettinger of The Genetic Genealogist and Katherine Hope Borges, Director of ISOGG.

I installed Google Analytics on July 18th, so I have about five and a half months of stats. Since then, I have had 7,580 visits to my blog, resulting from only 32 posts. Of these visits, about 40% came directly to my site. Approximately 20% came from Google and the rest came from 261 different referral paths - including Discover Magazine Blogs, Science Blogs, Newsweek, Facebook, Twitter, Genetic Future, Genomes Unzipped, Genomics Law Report, Blogger, LinkedIn, SNPedia, DNA Forums, Cyndi's List, Rootsweb, Fatwallet, Forumbiodiversity.com and CNN's Paging Dr. Gupta.

My post from November 23rd entitled, "News from 23andMe: Consolidated Offerings, Personal Genome Service, Upgraded Chip and Possible Sale" was the most visited with 843 views. This coincided with my biggest single day of 468 visits on November 24th. Thanks to many referrals, including Genomes Unzipped, "Ashkenazi and Me: A Case for EuroDNA Calculator Application Using Ancestry Analysis Tools from 23andMe" came in second. Third was "Washington Post - Can We Take The Higher Road?" dealing with the 23andMe sample mix-up. The fourth most read was "Sale and New Personal Genome Service Subscription at 23andMe." Rounding out the top five was my post from July clarifying the confusion over mtDNA testing vs. X-Chromosome testing.

What most amazed me is the type of readership that I have enjoyed this year. My readers come from 73 different countries - originating from top universities, research hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, the national news media, genomic sequencing/research/testing companies, venture capitalists and governments - as well as the expected genealogy enthusiasts. These include visitors from Stanford, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, MIT, Oxford, Cambridge, Columbia, Duke, Georgetown, Tokyo Institute of Technology, University of Sydney, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Interuniversity Computation Center, Danish Network for Research and Education, Wageningen University and Research Centre, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutes, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, St Jude's Children's Research Hospital, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, King's College London, Royal Berkshire Hospital, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Eurac, Russian Academy of Sciences, SMGF, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, P4MI, Broad Institute, NASA, US Senate, US State Department, US Department of Foreign Affairs, US Department of Veterans' Affairs, US Department of Energy, Democratic National Committee, National Institutes of Health, FCC, Library of Congress, EPA, Social Security Administration, NHS Trust (UK), Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australia), Department of Foreign Affairs (Canada), Illumina, Genentech, Eli Lilly, Counsyl, Siemens, IBM, Boeing, Google Inc, NY Times and USA Today.

This has demonstrated to me quite clearly the power and importance of personal genomics in our society. It has also proven to me that any of us can play a part in this emerging science. Scientists and hobbyists can work together and, it seems, our contributions are welcome.

I look forward to the exciting discoveries that 2011 will, no doubt, bring.