Yahoo! closes down social network

by Andrew McCormick, revolutionmagazine.com 03-Sep-08, 11:15

LONDON - Yahoo! has shelved Mash, its fledgling social network service touted as a potential rival to Facebook.

The web giant will close Mash on 29 September 2008, at which point users will no longer be able to access information they have stored on the service.

Yahoo! Mash went live in September 2007, enabling users to edit each other's profile pages. Yahoo! promoted the beta version of Mash as a ‘new approach to profiles that brings people together and keeps things interesting'.

The project did not, however, evolve from an invite-only phase and Yahoo! has decided to end the venture before it officially has launched.

Last year Yahoo! announced that it would shut down another of its social media services, Yahoo! 360, and merge it into ‘a more integrated profile experience'.