Institute For The Future

23 and Mommy

23andMe has launched an online community for Mommy bloggers that, by all indications, will give soon-to-be and current moms a place to discuss parenthood, pregnancy and, not surprisingly, genetics. The community site features some standards of a social networking site--profiles, discussion threads--along with some tools for measuring health status and wellness during pregnancy.

On their blog, 23andMe's founders say that:

 

By participating in this new endeavor, women will be invited to share their pregnancy experiences, both past and current, through online surveys we’ve developed with obstetrics experts. The Weekly Survey, for example, tracks a pregnancy throughout its course and gives each participant immediate feedback compared to others who are at the same gestational time point. Whether you’d like to know how your weight gain compares to a supportive group of women in the 36th week or if you’d like to see who else opted for a nuchal scan ultrasound at 11 to 13 weeks, you’ll soon feel a kinship with others in a whole new way.

In addition to surveys, our pregnancy community has a forum for posting questions, concerns and humorous anecdotes. If you’ve ever been in a conversation with a clutch of moms, there’s no end to the stories and reflections each and every one of them wants to share about her pregnancy.

 

Women can use the site regardless of whether they get their genomes read through 23andMe, but as Daniel MacArthur notes, engaging expecting mothers could "hugely expand its market beyond pale Wired-reading informavores into the general population."

23andMe isn't the first site to combine personal genetics and social networking. Earlier this month, GeneTree launched a service linking online networking for families with genetic tests.