Comments for Yahoo! Will Kill MyBlogLog Next Month [Update]

Yahoo! Will Kill MyBlogLog Next Month [Update]

2009-12-23T02:41:41Z

Five years to the month after it was founded, cross-blog social networking widget MyBlogLog will be closed down by Yahoo! in January, we're hearing from sources close to the project. MyBlogLog is a service that shows blog writers and readers the faces and profile information of other MyBlogLog users that visit their sites.

MyBlogLog was a wildly innovative service that grew fast after launching and was acquired in January 2007 by Yahoo! for $10 million. It made a deal with users: Give us your personal information and we'll show you the faces of people who read your blog. That was a compelling offer and the resulting data amassed could have proven invaluable, had Yahoo! chosen to cultivate it and a developer ecosystem around it. That potential was so great, in fact, that sunset for MyBlogLog is downright tragic. It's also likely to anger bloggers all around the web.]]> In addition to showing the faces of recent blog visitors, MyBlogLog also offered programatic access to activity streams from social networks that users associated with their MyBlogLog accounts. For example, Yahoo's Kent Brewster, now at Netflix, built a bookmarklet that would display the recent bookmarks on Delicious, photos on Flickr and job titles from LinkedIn of the latest MyBlogLog users to visit any given blog.

Yahoo! has let the service atrophy for years and will now put it to rest. To think that this service offered publishers and developers access to personal, demographic, taste and activity data of a website's readers - and yet that offering has in the end gone no where - that's downright crazy.

Here at ReadWriteWeb we scraped a feed from our MyBlogLog page of the new users just added to our community, then reached out to thank them for their support and welcome them personally. That was just the beginning of what could have been a very valuable source of data. Imagine getting a feed of the LinkedIn job titles of all your recent readers and presenting that to a blog's advertisers. Both analytically and financially, there was so much potential in MyBlogLog. See our 2008 post The Significance of the MyBlogLog API if you're a social web geek and want to have your heart broken.

Looking at the ecosystems beginning to form around Twitter, Facebook and other user data - MyBlogLog may just have been ahead of its time. The service isn't alone among potentially world-changing technologies acquired and then starved of support at Yahoo! We've asked Yahoo! for comment and will update this post if we receive any.

Image via CrunchBase

We called co-founder Eric Marcoulier for comment and he offered the following perspective: "So much of your company's long term sucess when it's acquired is based on the amount of executive juice it has. The only way it survives and flourishes is if you have an executive champion who promotes it internally. Shortly after we were acquired we were transfered away from our champion and under someone who didn't feel the same way about MyBlogLog. In those circumstances, things simply slow down.

"For any startup that has earn outs, and this didn't affect us, you've got to keep in mind that in 3 months you could be reorganized and the new guy could shut you down. The picture that gets painted early on when you have your product champions can change in a heartbeat and it's important for entreprenuers to consider that when looking at the deal terms."

R.I.P. MyBlogLog.

Update: Chris Yeh, head of the Yahoo! Developer Network, has responded over at the YDN blog: "Frankly, it's no secret within Yahoo! that we're actively discussing the future of MyBlogLog. However, it's also true that we have not made any final decisions at this point. Is a shutdown on the table? Sure, that's an option. But there are other options as well."

Comment from School In Paranaque on 2011-04-19

2011-04-19T09:55:47Z

Hmm... any update?

Comment from Business Loans on 2011-04-07

2011-04-07T23:03:00Z

This is not happening. Yahoo can do better than that.

Comment from Antony Berkman on 2011-03-26

2011-03-26T09:32:35Z

mybloglog + bloggersunite + blogcatalog = the right thing

Comment from Amanda on 2011-02-25

2011-02-25T09:20:47Z

i think its good idea!

Comment from Henrik Blunck on 2011-02-24

2011-02-25T05:57:55Z

The worst part is that we have finally heard that May 24th 2011 will be the closing date. To think that Yahoo! could be as "rich" as to pay 10,000,000$ for something they are now willing to scrap for free is, to put it mildly, rather mind-boggling...

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2010-10-25T18:39:09Z

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Comment from Mykalai Kontilai on 2010-10-20

2010-10-20T12:51:47Z

Well thats not a good decision by yahoo. I do like MyBlogLog a lot and would miss it.

Comment from Mykalai Kontilai on 2010-10-12

2010-10-12T08:06:46Z

The service predated such social networking widgets as Google Friend Connect and Facebook Fan Boxes. Nice work strangling a pioneer into stagnation really, Yahoo.

Comment from Window Cleaning Melbourne on 2010-10-07

2010-10-07T16:13:23Z

I think if yahoo decide to do this so its not a wrong.Yahoo always did things in our favour.....

Comment from Brooke Beresh on 2010-10-07

2010-10-07T09:41:53Z

Its just as useful today as it always has been, despite years of nothing new it was running good by the way what is the need to shut down as yahoo is the only player providing such service so they should enjoy the monopoly....

Comment from Mykalai Kontilai on 2010-10-04

2010-10-04T09:59:45Z

This is not just at all good for us. Yahoo should think ...

Comment from Nightly Business Report on 2010-09-29

2010-09-29T09:45:31Z

I'm lucky to have stopped using it a while back. The widget designs look bad that it would ruin my blog design.

Comment from wood blinds on 2010-09-25

2010-09-25T12:19:28Z

I think the incredible work and innovation of their development / API team isn't wasted. I actually thought the new CEO was going to place the company on the right track, but it looks like her vision is stuck in the 90s.

Comment from Mykalai Kontilai on 2010-09-24

2010-09-24T09:42:34Z

the only reason it may cost more to mantain it is because Yahoo never rethought the business model of MyBlogLog. They never put ads on the thing or restructured prices for the blog stats. The data MyBlogLog holds is extremely valuable, the problem was that Yahoo never integrated it to anything at all either.

It is very sad the state MyBlogLog is now. It really got me riled up enough to write a rant on it.

Comment from Danny DeMichele on 2010-09-24

2010-09-24T08:39:37Z

I actually thought the new CEO was going to place the company on the right track, but it looks like her vision is stuck in the 90s.

Comment from zacon on 2010-09-24

2010-09-24T08:39:02Z

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Comment from Mykalai Kontilai on 2010-09-22

2010-09-22T11:51:55Z

they had not made a sure decision regarding this as there are other options also available with them so there is need to watch how they are just substituting this awesome service

Comment from Sell Websites on 2010-09-22

2010-09-22T11:25:41Z

That potential was so great, in fact, that sunset is downright tragic.

Comment from Watch Jersey Shore on 2010-09-21

2010-09-21T08:00:22Z

yes, I think so,,
but I am confused

Comment from Watch Entourage Episode on 2010-09-21

2010-09-21T07:56:55Z

Bad News, is that true?

Comment from watch ncis season 1 on 2010-09-21

2010-09-21T07:51:26Z

Are you serious?!

What's next Yahoo?! Facebook!! Grrr!!!

Comment from Startup Consultant on 2010-09-20

2010-09-20T10:53:46Z

The picture that gets painted early on when you have your product champions can change in a heartbeat.

Comment from Corporate Reputation Management on 2010-09-18

2010-09-18T10:47:06Z

The picture that gets painted early on when you have your product champions can change in a heartbeat and it's important for entreprenuers to consider that when looking at the deal terms.

Comment from Nicholas Ayiotis on 2010-09-12

2010-09-12T07:12:05Z

this creates some uncertainty for current MyBlogLog users the project” that Yahoo will shut down MyBloglog next month. MyBlogLog doesn’t hold the blogging community’s attention today the way it did a few years ago, but if the report is true, it will disappoint many who continue to use the service. it’s also true that thry have not made any final decisions at this point.

Comment from Internet Slander Lawsuits on 2010-09-06

2010-09-06T17:36:51Z

I know there could have been a way to tweak the widgets.

Comment from Internet Marketing Consultants on 2010-09-03

2010-09-03T07:32:07Z

That was a compelling offer and the resulting data amassed could have proven invaluable.

Comment from Bathroom Vanity Units on 2010-09-02

2010-09-02T08:03:54Z

I remember using MyBlogLog a couple of years ago and used to enjoy seeing who was visiting my site and also other sites I read. It's a shame to see it go even although I haven't personally been using it much.I am not surprised as Yahoo has the tendency to FAIL in their web dealings. Remember Geocities? It was the most popular free web hosting until Yahoo bought it and they kill it slowly and last year they buried it.

Comment from Trent Jordan on 2010-08-29

2010-08-30T06:37:31Z

This is not the first time that Yahoo or any other biggies have taken over a perfectly good product and ruined it. It would definitely make me a bit sad if this is true.

Comment from Fairmont Bathroom Vanity on 2010-08-26

2010-08-27T02:27:22Z

this one is just sad. MyBlogLog was pretty innovative and just as useful today as it always has been, despite years of nothing new it was running good by the way what is the need to shut down as yahoo is the only player providing such service so they should enjoy the monopoly i will gonna miss this i use it daily it is great

Comment from Gerard Amaro on 2010-08-24

2010-08-25T06:20:15Z

It would definitely make me a bit sad if this is true.This is not the first time that Yahoo or any other biggies have taken over a perfectly good product and ruined it.

Comment from Walkin tubs on 2010-08-23

2010-08-23T11:12:13Z

The widget designs look bad that it would ruin my blog design. I know there could have been a way to tweak the widgets, but I didn't feel that it was worth putting too much effort into.

Comment from Max Furniture on 2010-08-20

2010-08-21T06:19:33Z

The widget designs look bad that it would ruin my blog design.I know there could have been a way to tweak the widgets, but I didn't feel that it was worth putting too much effort into.

Comment from Justin Amador on 2010-08-20

2010-08-21T05:35:55Z

MBL was one of the first social Web applications for bloggers and I think an important one in terms of making bloggers and Web site publishers think of a "community" around their blogs.

Comment from Nancy Abrahamson on 2010-08-20

2010-08-20T07:20:14Z

Do they not see the massive push Google is putting into Google Friend Connect which is a similar product to MyBlogLog? YQL and Pipes are two of the coolest things I've seen on the web, now how long before those two get axed as well.

Comment from Max Furniture on 2010-08-20

2010-08-20T07:05:54Z

MBL should/could have been at the center of Y!'s social strategy.But they haven't even taken full advantage of flickr.

Comment from executive conference table on 2010-08-18

2010-08-19T06:40:40Z

The incredible work and innovation of their development / API team isn't wasted. I actually thought the new CEO was going to place the company on the right track, but it looks like her vision is stuck in the 90s.

Comment from Find Senior Housing on 2010-08-17

2010-08-18T05:38:41Z

The widget designs look bad that it would ruin my blog design. I know there could have been a way to tweak the widgets, but I didn't feel that it was worth putting too much effort into.

Comment from J hass Group on 2010-08-15

2010-08-16T06:57:48Z

I believe yahoo just had too many great sources and less inovative product managers to make all the thing works well together.

Comment from David Abernethy on 2010-08-13

2010-08-13T07:48:49Z

This is not the first time that Yahoo or any other biggies have taken over a perfectly good product and ruined it. It would definitely make me a bit sad if this is true.

Comment from Andy Abascal on 2010-08-11

2010-08-12T06:29:28Z

I have to agree that there are a mash-up of similar services that can do what MBL does, it could probably re-emerge with the smallest face-life.

Comment from list building on 2010-08-11

2010-08-11T12:24:42Z

I think Yahoo is experincing a real mid life crises: acting completely out of character, doing weird things, trying to change it's image. Meanwhile we are all powerless but to just watch, scratching our heads wondering where will it all end.

Comment from Sunder Aaron on 2010-08-11

2010-08-11T09:52:35Z

I believe yahoo just had too many great sources and less innovative product managers to make all the thing works well together. Compared to Google, most yahoo services seems like they are separated and not integrated.

Comment from Organic Baby on 2010-08-11

2010-08-11T07:34:42Z

It's a real shame that they would choose to let it die instead of letting it go somewhere else.While I have to agree that there are a mash-up of similar services that can do what MBL does, it could probably re-emerge with the smallest face-life.

Comment from Buy Domains on 2010-08-09

2010-08-09T11:08:58Z

The widget designs look bad that it would ruin my blog design. I know there could have been a way to tweak the widgets, but I didn't feel that it was worth putting too much effort into.

Comment from Appraiser on 2010-08-05

2010-08-05T07:21:02Z

This is not the first time that Yahoo or any other biggies have taken over a perfectly good product and ruined it. It would definitely make me a bit sad if this is true.

Comment from Copywriting on 2010-08-04

2010-08-05T06:38:24Z

The widget designs look bad that it would ruin my blog design. I know there could have been a way to tweak the widgets, but I didn't feel that it was worth putting too much effort into.

Comment from best CMS on 2010-08-03

2010-08-03T11:32:50Z

It's a real shame that they would choose to let it die instead of letting it go somewhere else. While I have to agree that there are a mash-up of similar services that can do what MBL does, it could probably re-emerge with the smallest face-life.

Comment from Watch True Blood Episode on 2010-07-23

2010-07-23T20:44:04Z

hope it's just an issue coz mybloglog is the greatest

Comment from Richard | SEO Bounty on 2010-07-13

2010-07-13T18:48:09Z

Nothing Yahoo does ever surprises me.

Comment from Elizabeth Malisa on 2010-06-21

2010-06-22T03:48:22Z

seems foolish chatter. But everything can happen :D

Comment from Nadeem | Azam Marketing on 2010-03-16

2010-03-17T00:38:00Z

MyBlogLog is still going strong and working fine. There's no message on MyBlogLog's homepage to say it's shutting down.

Is it, indeed, closing down?

Read the above blog post, I removed the MyBlogLog plug-in from our blog at http://www.azam.info and replaced it with that from another similar company which doesn't have as many users, but should we add it back again?

Thanks.

Comment from Jai on 2010-03-15

2010-03-15T08:59:37Z

Its one great tool to drive some free traffic!! we'll all miss it definitely..

Comment from All4Data on 2010-02-22

2010-02-22T15:44:33Z

so when can we expect MyBlogLog to expire as we past the date according to this blog

Comment from Lionel on 2010-02-20

2010-02-20T13:42:53Z

Your blog "Yahoo! Will Kill MyBlogLog Next Month" was a very interesting post. I've always enjoyed using MyBloglog and didn't realise that Yahoo was going to kill it until I read your post. Thank you for taking the time to share this with us, your work is really appreciated.

Comment from Kimberly Murgatroyd on 2010-01-27

2010-01-28T07:37:20Z

Not a good decision at all and what a waste of such a great site.

Comment from seo on 2010-01-21

2010-01-21T09:25:48Z

It's sad to know that MBL is shutting down. Lots of blogs will be losing a lot of back links from MBL however you can always other find ways to recover from this if you know what you are doing.

Comment from Upul on 2010-01-20

2010-01-21T04:23:08Z

That is a little bit of a "secret sauce" question, so I am not going to go into how much we
do trust that sort of stuff.

Comment from Darnell Clayton on 2010-01-15

2010-01-15T23:53:51Z

Are you serious?!

What's next Yahoo?! Flickr!! Grrr!!!

Comment from Tilly on 2010-01-15

2010-01-15T17:04:15Z

Ian Kennedy, previous product manager of MyBlogLog, and other past members of the MBL team came together and recently published this how-to blog post that shows some ways you can export your data before Yahoo officially pulls the plug:

http://everwas.com/2010/01/how-to-export-your-data-from-mybloglog.html

Not only did Yahoo drop the ball on one of the most technically advanced products they had, but they also let the most amazing talent slip away as well. The MyBlogLog team was hands down the most passionate and creative group in that department. Its a damn shame.

xoxo
Tilly McLain
former community manager, MyBlogLog

Comment from Astaga.com Lifestyle On The Net on 2010-01-10

2010-01-10T13:56:03Z

But until now Im still using MyBlogLog to bookmark my Blog, is that true?

Comment from el7cosmos on 2010-01-08

2010-01-08T11:42:06Z

shocking...now is January,,are they gonna shut it down??

Comment from marvin on 2010-01-05

2010-01-05T08:13:33Z

Is it true......??? wahhh.. anyway. The shutdown of mybloglog is not the end of the road. A lot of options are availabe.

Comment from Carl on 2010-01-04

2010-01-05T00:03:24Z

Like many of Yahoo’s products, MyBlogLog suffered from a lack of support. MyBlogLog is/was a social network for bloggers. And as TechCrunch recently observed, Yahoo has pretty much given up any social media: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/12/02/yahoo-outsources-all-that-social-nonsense-to-facebook/.

I’ve always liked MyBlogLog…sort of a digital calling card. I also like the analytics it provides. However, I think MyBlogLog’s days were numbered when Yahoo failed in the attempted to integrate MyBlogLog with 360.

When Yahoo started testing Mash, they tried to emulate some of MyBlogLog’s features. Yahoo’s newly abandoned Univeral Profile System use some of Mash’s technology and also tried to be a bit of what MyBlogLog is…just not as well.

I suspect that MyBlogLog was too difficult to integrate into the rest of Yahoo’s plans to “rewire” its entire network. I used to be a big fan of Yahoo, but no longer. I’ve had a Yahoo ID since December 2000, primarily when I thought I was going to lose my email address when Excite@Home got into a dispute with Cox Communications.

I first started a personal blog on Yahoo’s 360 service (another botched Yahoo idea), until they closed it and replaced with their “universal profile system". By the way, Yahoo's profile system is a steaming pile of goo.

I even have a website hosted on Yahoo, but not for long. They’ve turned it into a shell of its former self.

Comment from BillyWarhol on 2010-01-03

2010-01-03T19:13:41Z

Yahoo! Ruins Everything it lays it's Greedy Stoopid hands on! Same thing happened with Flickr!! Hard to believe Yahoo! could be as Bad or Dumb as MicroPOOP but it is! Good Riddance Yahoo!!

Comment from Baxter Tocher on 2010-01-03

2010-01-03T14:30:10Z

BlogCatalog has always been *much* more innovative than MyBlogLog, without the might of Yahoo! behind it:

http://www.blogcatalog.com/

Comment from Eric "Speedcat Hollydale" on 2010-01-01

2010-01-02T05:35:31Z

This was big just as linking, memes, and awards were years ago. Bloggers met and gathered at Mybloglog in droves.
What happened? It became a spam and garbage pay per click farm. What you find there now are WEB SITES. Millions of people trying to make a dollar with their home computers.

Who wants to be involved with a website that actually encourages spam ??? If by chance Mybloglog does make it with another owner, they best change the name first to Myspamwatch.

Summary? I once loved this site, but could care less if it implodes now.

Comment from Web Design Kent on 2010-01-01

2010-01-01T22:46:36Z

Damn, its so annoyiung if you have spent time and energy using and posting on the site. Will it damage you in SEO terms?

Comment from World News Trends on 2010-01-01

2010-01-01T18:46:20Z

I just want to say, I am totally disappointed to just find out this news (from Andy Beard and now here). I hope that Yahoo will not shut down this great site.

Please, please don't... That's my vote. J. Sampson.

Comment from bee on 2009-12-31

2010-01-01T06:33:29Z

after geocities and then Mybloglog...Hmmmm, maybe next Yahoomail....

Comment from Action Figures on 2009-12-30

2009-12-31T04:47:09Z

very sad .........

Comment from Bill Whetstone on 2009-12-30

2009-12-31T04:31:28Z

Yahoo coulda been a CONTENDUH! Will Yahoo choke on Wifi and PPC too! Just GIVE UP YAHOO! google is your master.....

sooo sad

boo

Comment from John M. on 2009-12-30

2009-12-31T04:25:32Z

...and I just joined this thing last month or so! I must have joined too late. Well... I may have to look to Bloglovin or something. Why, Yahoo Why? Why drive the wooden stake into MyBlogLog's heart? Curse you! >_

Comment from Tony on 2009-12-30

2009-12-31T02:46:25Z

Seems like a shame that they want to close down this service, but then social networking is changing so fast these days, it's hard to keep up. Within months other services will take it's place I am sure.

Comment from KAK on 2009-12-30

2009-12-30T21:34:53Z

It will be time to support Google then!

Comment from ZaBeth on 2009-12-26

2009-12-26T11:35:00Z

As a marketing professional this seems like a completely missed opportunity on Yahoo's part to be ahead of the game. If they had acted on this 5 year's ago they were have been so much farther along by now. They could still make some thing wonderful out of this but if they aren't going to do anything with it good business sense says kill it.

Comment from C Satch on 2009-12-26

2009-12-26T09:53:04Z

No wonder yahoo is going down the pan.... a lesson in how not to manage valuable services!

Comment from pramee on 2009-12-25

2009-12-26T02:08:48Z

I'm sad!! is shocking news.

Comment from 123 on 2009-12-25

2009-12-25T16:14:36Z

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Comment from web magazine on 2009-12-25

2009-12-25T12:11:37Z

What is happening to yahoo! It seems to be closing down everything. Maybe Yahoo will close down soon too??

Comment from http://www.topnflnews.com/ on 2009-12-25

2009-12-25T09:18:30Z

a bad news~~~

Comment from Toan Nguyen Minh on 2009-12-24

2009-12-25T05:55:26Z

This is really a shocking new. I hope yahoo will don't close down MYBLogLog. Vote for MyBLoGlog

Comment from Nithin on 2009-12-24

2009-12-24T18:38:44Z

I have been using MyBlogLog widget on my wordpress blog for the past couple of years, but my visits to the MyBlogLog website was high during 2007, now it has been many months since I last visited it. Seems like time has come to move on and remove the widget.

Comment from Brian Wong on 2009-12-24

2009-12-24T13:19:34Z

This is really sad news. The MyBlogLog widget has been on my site since day 1 of my blog. :(

Comment from BWI on 2009-12-23

2009-12-24T06:24:39Z

I am a little disappointed to read this. I remember when Yahoo took over, and I thought cool...they are going to spruce it up. So much for that.

Comment from valentines day on 2009-12-23

2009-12-24T04:20:06Z

Well thats not a good decision by yahoo. I do like MyBlogLog a lot and would miss it.

Comment from Tinh on 2009-12-23

2009-12-24T01:44:48Z

That is shocking news to me and I do miss it very much

Comment from emiller on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T23:59:57Z

This has been a long time coming, sadly. MyBlogLog will be missed.

Comment from widgetslab on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T23:30:12Z

Are we 100% sure that it will die?

Chris Yeh of the Yahoo Developer Network indicates there may be something different in store for MBL.

If they are gonna kill it...the least that they could do is hand it off to someone else. However, they would not be able to write it off then...would they?

A wasted opportunity.

Comment from Avatar X on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T22:19:05Z

This whole riled me up enough to do a good rant on it:

http://www.appatic.com/2009/12/mybloglog-perfect-example-of-missed.html

Shameless plug but totally relevant to this post.

Comment from Nick @ Brick Marketing on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T21:12:05Z

This is absolutely crazy! Another poor move that just proves that Yahoo! is on its way down completely.

According to Compete MyBlogLog as been significantly increasing visitors over the the past year and is the highest this past month it was ever at (1.5 million unique visitors!)

http://siteanalytics.compete.com/mybloglog.com/

It would have been a better move to sell them off at a loss than shut them down or just keep it active and earn passive revenue as 1.5 million visitors is not a low number...

Comment from Claudia on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T20:57:12Z

Really very very sad. I have been using MyBlogLog for myself and all our clients.

I also, do not know what Yahoo is thinking!

It seems to me that Yahoo is experincing a real mid life crises: acting completely out of character, doing weird things, trying to change it's image. Meanwhile we are all powerless but to just watch, scratching our heads wondering where will it all end.

Feeling very dissapointed in Yahoo right now.

Comment from Jaan on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T19:24:21Z

Wont miss the social aspects, but will miss the real-time analytics.

Comment from Deane on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T19:19:46Z

Wouldn't it be cool if anti-monopoly laws / anti-racketering laws made it alot harder for big companies to buy tech start ups for the purpose of letting them wither / get 'em to shut down?

On the hand other wouldn't it be cool if someone bought Microsoft for the purpose of letting it wither / get 'em to shut down? Actually that kinda sounds alot like Microsoft's business plan these days anyways right?

Comment from cathy on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T19:07:34Z

I hope Yahoo doesn't do the same with Delicious - It is my bookmarking site of choice. It already is kind a bummer that you have to register a yahoo email address to start a new Delicious account - just what I need, another email address.

Comment from name on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T17:39:48Z

MyBlogWho?

Oh it must have been that service that locked out anyone who didn't want to register a Yahoo account a couple years ago. I never went back and apparently Yahoo agrees that it wasn't worth the hassle requiring people to sign-up for a Yahoo account.

Another service will be created to fill the hole dug by Yahoo.

Comment from Kent Brewster on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T16:41:36Z

Saddest thing for me about all of this is that the world will never know just how close the MyBlogLog team came to shipping a genuinely useful Web identity, not tied to Yahoo or Facebook or anybody else. (Hint: it was really, really close. As in "ready to push.")

Ah, well. The MyBlogLog team has gone on to do great things post-MyBlogLog, like Mashery and Gnip. The Yahoo experience is a lot like going to college: what matters is what you do after you graduate.

Comment from Joanne on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T15:50:58Z

Wow, carol 'loser' bartz is talking again, find out the reason why she is named like that and how she is leading the Y! corporartion to damnation. And now there's the Tiger..

Link:MyblogLog RIP is just Bartz own Demise

Comment from Blog Tactici on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T15:15:09Z

Geocities then MyBlogLog. What's next?

Comment from Gregory on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T15:11:57Z

Yahoo also had a very nice movie making function and then closed it down. Seems like that is what they do, buy a nice add on to their site and then close it down. It is no wonder everyone talks about google. they are building and yahoo is shutting down.

Comment from walter knapp on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T14:50:46Z

Missed opportunity. We tried and tried (and tried) to work with Y! to help extend and further the MBL asset. After all we include some of the MBL functionality when auto-discovering a network for your Lijit account. In the end the phrase "pecked to death by ducks" comes to mind...

We've since focused on more traditional methods to capture and include your network into your Lijit search results. Too bad the folks at Y! didn't take advantage of what should've been an easy way to further the technology without simply letting it die.

Comment from Wilma on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T14:06:47Z

Hi, all:

Why can't you just start the service somewhere else, like WordPress? Or set up your own network? Or get it on LinkedIn as an add-eon?

If YAHOO - which has killed more great ideas than Carter has made little liver pills - is going to shut it down, are you going to be able to keep the name?

NO, I DON'T know all the problems attendant to doing your own network, but if you don't try, you aren't going to do anything about it, either.

Comment from John Sullivan on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T12:41:27Z

Yahoo is whacked. I have seen that company do some crazy things. You would think with all those resources and so called talent they would do something right what a bunch of Goofs.

Comment from Kenneth on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T12:05:22Z

Another sad news before 2009 ends. :-(

Comment from Daina Thomas on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T11:54:47Z

This is really sad ... why .. I mean its such a great service . I have an account there .. I have my all blogs updated there ..I have reading about yahoo .. that it is going in loss .. and dnt know why .. Yahoo is almost providing all the services which are being provided by Google and Microsoft ..

Daina

Comment from Andre White on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T11:50:58Z

MBL was and still could be socially relevant IMHO. It's a real shame that they would choose to let it die instead of letting it go somewhere else. While I have to agree that there are a mash-up of similar services that can do what MBL does, it could probably re-emerge with the smallest face-life (read: Direction).

Not that I'm the paranoid sort, but I'm gonna verify all my Delicious tags are in Diigo, Digg my Buzz's, Pingg.com my Upcoming! and export all of my Yahoo Mail. Just to be safe.

Ok, TBO I'm only assuming I have a Yahoo Mail Account; my broadband isn't fast enough to avoid time-outs just pulling the spam folder. I just need to remember the email address, I think I wrote it down on my Geocities page.

Comment from Diego Sana on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T10:18:07Z

Mybloglog was indeed an innovative service and probably will be missed by the many bloggers still using it.

Comment from Meillyssa Chandra Hutabarat on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T10:12:54Z

owh no,that's a bad news !!!

I like my MBL because I've got many friends from that apps.
If Yahoo want to kill MBL,please replacing all of the MBL user to the replacement apps like that. And I think, there are no good apps such as MBL.

Comment from Robyn Tippins on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T09:30:28Z

Ahead of it's time... That's exactly right.

Comment from Anand Srinivasan on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T09:10:58Z

Well, this sucks..But not much can be done..MyBlogLog used to be great when it started, but of late it is mostly spammers there...Yahoo killed MBL the moment they bought it..

What's next? Delicious?

Comment from Adib on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T08:29:37Z

I'm lucky to have stopped using it a while back. The widget designs look bad that it would ruin my blog design. I know there could have been a way to tweak the widgets, but I didn't feel that it was worth putting too much effort into.

Comment from Mutimba Mazwi on 2009-12-23

2009-12-23T08:16:03Z

Let them introduce a Crunchbase kind of things and see how it works.

Comment from Avatar X on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T07:54:23Z

Mad as hell that this has happened. Saw it coming 6 months ago.

It was a very innovative thing back when it launched:

1.-First serious instant blog network
2.-First Widget to connect a network into your blog.
3.-Had a actual business plan before being bought.

But what happened is that yahoo stopped updating the widgets over a year ago. It never updated its stats package, It also stopped updating the design.

My problem with MyBlogLog is that it could had been

A)A better Technorati
B)A better wikio/blogged
C)Lijit before there was any lijit
D)OneRiot before there was any OneRiot.
E)Facebook Connect before there was any Facebook Connect.

Or even all of the above.

= A Complete Tragedy

One of the few instances lately where i agree with Marshall 100% and then some.

Comment from popa on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T07:27:47Z

http://designmylaptop.ro/inscrieri/022e4fbffba40d302f1b0225f1c9d611/

Comment from Tan The Man on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T07:04:44Z

Sucks a nut...

Comment from printer ram on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T06:57:46Z

Great way for Yahoo to start this New Year. MBL is the best thing to happen in social networking space and Y! did the best thing by taking them into its fold.

Comment from Brian Arfi / Fauzan on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T06:33:12Z

well, it's really a shame since not only im plannign to use it on the 2 vertical portal we will be launching, most blogger community uses it.

I believe yahoo just had too many great sources and less inovative product managers to make all the thing works well together.

Compared to google, most yahoo services seems like they are separated and not integrated.

If yahoo indeed is moving toward asia as it's main base, they are definitely taking the wrong move shutting down MBL, selling it should be better.

Comment from kpkumar on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T06:32:25Z

It is very sad news for bloggers

Comment from David on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T06:26:58Z

Feh! This is a not so surprising bummer. MBL should/could have been at the center of Y!'s social strategy. But they haven't even taken full advantage of flickr... or delicious, or upcoming, or... so what are you gonna do? Eric's comments are dead on.

Comment from whoop dedo on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T06:22:07Z

its amusing watching everyone shriek in terror as these dead-end sites are shut off. today half the blogosphere is freaking out over this...yesterday you probably couldn't fill a bus with serious mbl users

whats amazing is that it was ever even acquired.

Comment from Dave on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T05:59:36Z

damn shame. really is.

sigh.

Comment from tunetorials on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T05:59:20Z

Yahoo has some of the most innovative services that SHOULD be laying the foundation of the company, rather than getting he hatchet. Do they not see the massive push Google is putting into Google Friend Connect which is a similar product to MyBlogLog? YQL and Pipes are two of the coolest things I've seen on the web, now how long before those two get axed as well? What about Delicious and Flickr? Are those going to get axed too?

I know what they need! A cycling team!

I hope the incredible work and innovation of their development / API team isn't wasted. I actually thought the new CEO was going to place the company on the right track, but it looks like her vision is stuck in the 90s.

Comment from spandana on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T05:58:25Z

facebook's fan box is a pretty good replacement. http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Fan_Box

Comment from Mike Abundo on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T05:43:38Z

The service predated such social networking widgets as Google Friend Connect and Facebook Fan Boxes. Nice work strangling a pioneer into stagnation, Yahoo.

Comment from Bill Bolmeier on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T04:57:39Z

Wow. Spent quite a bit of time at the MyBlogLog site in 2007.

Comment from jaredy on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T04:36:31Z

@scott

so you guys made out very well, would anyone expect less from selling to yahoo

my main point is there are so many little apps, whether bootstrapped or properly funded, that are just not meant to last long, so lets stop making a big deal about them all

Comment from joy on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T04:31:22Z

Oh No! I am sad. Back when MyBlogLog had started, I had written a blog post on how to take advantage of the MyBlogLog front page. For when it happened, way back in late 2006, this was cool.
http://cleverhack.com/2006/11/04/hacking-mybloglog/

Seriously, MBL was one of the first social Web applications for bloggers and I think an important one in terms of making bloggers and Web site publishers think of a "community" around their blogs/sites, etc.

Comment from Keith Dsouza on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T04:12:50Z

This is tragic, back until sometime ago I used to use MyBlogLog quite often, however the lack of development and no interest shown whatsover by Yahoo has killed this.

This is not the first time that Yahoo or any other biggies have taken over a perfectly good product and ruined it. It would definitely make me a bit sad if this is true.

Long live MyBlogLog

Comment from Scott on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T04:05:16Z

Marshall, Thank you for the kind words. As Eric noted, Bradley Horowitz was key to making us part of Y! and would have been key to getting us well integrated. We didn't report to him for long enough to make it work in the way we hoped.

The various MBL alumni are figuring out how to bring out helpful new publisher services. News on the first project that should see the light of day will appear @hearttheweb in January.

@ Dave Delaney
The best replacement I've seen so far is from some pals of mine in Amsterdam. It uses Twitter auth and images in a similar way to MBL.
http://twittercounter.com/pages/twitterwidget/

@jaredy at the risk of responding to that sort of comment, we were purely a bootstrap. MBL had no funding.

Comment from GuillaumeB on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T04:02:35Z

Well pretty logical move. Peanut butter issue. The new Yahoo! Profile will replace MyBlogLog.

Comment from jaredy on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T03:17:16Z

lets be serious, how many bells and whistles does the social web/media need?

most will be fads, just like this, with ugly design and a short life

investors pump money into these balloons which eventually burst

it is amazing half the crap, and i mean CRAP, that gets funded, only to eventually die.

Comment from Dave Delaney on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T03:06:54Z

This is really too bad. I still use MyBlogLog widget, I love to see the faces of the people reading my blog.

I wonder who will build something to replace this? Any ideas?

I guess I'll settle on my Disqus widget and Google Friend Connect widget, but those don't capture recent visitors.

Hmrf.

Comment from Kevin Bondelli on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T03:05:22Z

Well, wasted opportunities are Yahoo!'s MO.

Comment from Jorge Mir on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T03:00:10Z

Yep, tons of potential and then another dead end after the purchase by Yahoo! Ahead of its time but always on the fringe.

Comment from Allen on 2009-12-22

2009-12-23T02:52:59Z

wow - i remember using the service for a short bit - they had some decent analytics - i also ran the mbl widget on CN for the last year but removed it about 3 mos ago.

i wonder what will be left at yahoo. too bad they didn't want to listen to my ideas 18 mos ago - they would be in much better shape now.