This just in - Yahoo has decided to pull the plug on Yahoo Mash.
From CNET yesterday - - -
Yahoo Mash: When getting social isn't enough
Let's hope Yahoo has finally learned that the maxim "If you build it, they will come" simply does not apply to a social network.
The Silicon Valley mainstay and onetime Microsoft shopping-spree target is quietly shutting down Yahoo Mash, its latest foray into creating a general-interest social network like a Facebook or MySpace.
It's the latest social-networking failure for Yahoo, which was unable
to get its earlier "Yahoo 360" network off the ground, and once
attempted to purchase Facebook, only to have its billion-dollar offer
turned down.
Mash was cute, with a slick interface, and Yahoo already had the
advantage of millions of registered users to roll right into it. But
its failure to catch on is indicative of a bigger truth in the
social-networking world: a new player in this saturated market has to
offer something legitimately new and useful.
Yes, really. And let it be a lesson to any other would-be Facebook killers.
Critics of social networks say they're nothing but gimmicky fads,
pointing to the popularity of silly Facebook applications and the
flashy glitter text that adorns many teenagers' MySpace profiles. That
just isn't true: if you look at the two biggest social-networking
success stories, Facebook and MySpace, each one has served a distinct
utility since its debut.
Read the full article here ...