Yahoo to shut Yahoo 360

June 4, 2009 · Filed Under News · Comment

One of the popular Yahoo service, Yahoo 360 is now finally officially closing on July 13. According to the earlier reports, Yahoo! was contemplating to shut the service last year itself, however it never happened. The announcement came at the official blog of Yahoo!

The blog post says, “Over the past two years there has been a lot of discussion about the closure of Yahoo! 360° and the transition to our new profiles experience that we’ve had in the works. Today, we’re able to firmly say that on July 13, 2009 Yahoo! 360° will be closing down and you’ll be asked to move into your new profile on Yahoo!, by July 12, 2009.”

Launched in March 2005, Yahoo 360 was the social network/blogging service from Yahoo!, the second largest search engine company after Google.

Unlike many other contemporaries, this service from Yahoo! couldn’t gain much popularity. Yahoo 360 had 13.9 million worldwide unique visitors in April, however.

A couple of years earlier, in October 2007, Yahoo! announced its plans to shut the service. However in April 2008, the company reiterated the plan.

Tags: blog, blogging, Google, search engine, social networking site, Yahoo, Yahoo! 360, Yahoo! 360°

Blending Responsibilities and Passions

January 2, 2009 · Filed Under Reviews · Comment

Ever since they became popular in the late 90s, the blogs have been used by people to their convenience. Some have used them to share experiences, views and opinions, some use them to inform the public, some write to vent their frustration, the others live their passion through them. Where as the conventional connotation attached to the use of blogs have termed them as ‘personal space’ but the most debatable use of the blogs has been for journalism.

Enabled by the emergence of World Wide Web and with the advancements in technology, the blogs became the most powerful forms of interactive media. Realising their potential, many of the main steam media professionals shifted to the world of blogging to reach out to a wider audience and guage the public opinion.

This blend of journalism and blogging have been a bag of mixed experiences. While some have appreciated them for being unbiased versions, the other school of thought have given it a harsh beating. The criticisms that it attracts are mainly due to the mixing of duties and passion for blogging. The most powerful use of this new age media tool called ‘blog’ has been interactivity which keeps the audience better informed and develop deeper relationships. But the most difficult aspect has been to maintain the authenticity and credibility of their content.

A journalist who has to abide by the editorial policies and political bent of their media institution can only experince their fundamental right of ‘Freedom of Speech and Expression’ through blogging. The blogs hence can be termed as unreguated. But if anything posted on the journalists’ personal space goes against the organisation’s policies can lead to severe consequences putting it in a bad light. The credibility gained over the years both by the media organisation and the journalist could be lost in minutes.

Again although there’s always some level of the credibilty attached to the word of the mouth of a journalist, the defined ethics like objectivity are bound to be violated if the informtion is completely unregulated.

However useful or abused it might be, blogging has revolutionized the sharing experience. Today every person has its own story to say and also a freedom to make a choice of the medium he uses. Essentially what difference does it makes whether you read it on the World Wide Web or while sipping your bed tea?

Tags: blogging, Media

Blogging can get you a job

December 12, 2008 · Filed Under Learning · Comment

Can there be anything better than getting paid to write on your area of interest with you alone calling the shots? Indeed, professional blogging is a fast-catching trend in the country. Although paid-for blogging is frowned upon in the blogosphere, individual bloggers are considering it a full career option. What’s interesting is that companies too are looking forward to recruit them.

Basically, blogging it is believed can get you a number of benefits. From the employers angle, it allows them to provide you to focus on your niche area of expertise and thereby an extension of your hobby. Reports state that for most companies and entrepreneurs, it becomes a social marketing tool or a way to engage with their internal and external stakeholders. Young brands make hay while the sun shines. Most of the youth oriented products are reached out to its target audience of fashion conscious youth, bikers etc through blogs and encouraged value co-creation by taking their feedback from the product design stage itself.

Moreover, reaching out to people across the world is something that professional bloggers derive a kick from, say sources. People know you through your blog. You can build partnerships with other bloggers and share communities with readers across the globe, says a professional blogger.

Tags: blogging, job, partnership