Mash has fallen!
I posted about Yahoo! Mash last September when it was released in private beta and only available through an invitation. Now, Yahoo! will be scraping the fledgling social site, never having a real understanding of it’s true potential.
In my first post about Mash, I posed the question:
Can this give Yahoo an edge in the social market that many consider they have owned since taking it from AOL until MySpace and Facebook came showed on the scene a few years back?
I guess we have our answer!
Here’s more:
About Mash 2007:
Mash is a new approach to your profile that brings your people together and keeps things interesting. Mash is invite-only right now, so ask a friend who’s in to get you in. If you’re already in Mash, welcome back! – September 14
Thank you for trying out our Mash Beta service. We hope you had fun with it!
Are there more shutdowns to come?
First came 360, launched in 2005 as an early attempt to get Yahoo into social networking, was unceremoniously shut down earlier this year. In 2006 Yahoo was unable to close a transaction with Facebook, despite being willing to pay up to $1.62 billion. Nor could they pull the trigger on a $1 billion Bebo deal (Bebo went to AOL for $850 million). Now Yahoo has shut down Mash, which launched less than a year ago and is best known for sporting a Darth Vader playing guitar and eating a banana image when it was in private beta. TechCrunch
I guess Yahoo! is battening down the hatches to stay in the game, or are they even still viable?
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You mention that Yahoo will be closing down the site and “never having a real understanding of it’s true potential.” This seems to be a recurring problem at Yahoo. They never fully understood the potential of search and Google took them out. You have to question what area they do fully understand… at the moment Yahoo seems to be a jack of all trades and a master of none.
@Marketing Minefield: Thanks for the comment.
I think this can be said of many of us and many more companies, as well. Focus and direction are very important aspects of business, even online where the landscape is constantly changing. It seems to me that Yahoo! has subscribed to the idea that they need to pick up other companies to stay ahead, however, giving each of these new the time and attention they need has not been the case.
Like Abraham Lincoln once said (very loosely): “Find something you do well and keep on doing it.” I am not sure Yahoo! has found their calling, yet!
That’s a shame about Mash shutting down. A lot of webmasters initially saw huge potential with this to the point where there was actually a ‘mash-layouts’ domain name rush when Yahoo first launched it. I’m kind of surprised that it didn’t fly. I think they should have removed the invite-only thing.
Somehow I do not understand completely. What is it, actually. Please explain times for beginners.
@Webagentur: Yahoo started a social network site similar to MySpace and without sharing it with the public have decided to close it down.