During the holiday season the rumors that Yahoo was shutting down mybloglog abounded throughout social networks. In case you didn’t catch it Chris Yeh, Head of YDN has responded to the rumors in his post titled MyBlogLog? I’ve been a member of mybloglog for a long time and have rarely, if ever, received any traffic from that site. This is despite the fact that I have visited profile pages and blogs of those who visited mine and those I marked as “contacts”.
Something else I have witnessed that is not specific to mybloglog is that the “friends” and “contacts” we make in one social media or social network sites tend to be the same ones we are already “friends” and “contacts” of in other sites as well.
In addition I have noticed that the same published articles are spammed across all social media and social network sites to such a degree, and many bloggers have more than one site containing duplicated content. Therefore it’s actually difficult to find any unique content articles as the same stuff just keeps circulating and being tweeted and voted up endlessly.
When Yahoo closed down geocities it had some impact on my blogs as there were geocities bloggers who had backlinked to my posts. But this doesn’t seem to be the case for my blogs when it comes to mybloglog members. Consequently, if mybloglog disappears it’s not likely to have much of an impact on my blogs. I’m wondering if that’s the case with my readers’ blogs as well. What say you? 
lawrenceez
January 2, 2010
Hi timethief,
Interesting article.
First, I must say that any talk of personal publishing platforms shutting down blogs really scares me. I think that’s because I take blogging and other web 2.0 opportunities extremely seriously and I put a lot into them. I’m not at all familiar with Myblog, but at present I’m planning to stick with WordPress. It seems a most stable and excellent site. I would be gutted if WordPress suddenly announced they were shutting down all blogs, but I can’t really imagine that happening in the forseeable future.
Second, because this fear plays on my mind a lot, I keep a number of backups of all my work, both in the form of material copied-and-pasted and posted to my six email accounts, and on portable back up devices, such as a memory stick or CD. I would urge anyone who spends a substantial amount of time working on at the computer or the Internet to think carefully about implementing a systematic back up plan. Work can so easily become lost permanently.
Third, I was interested to read about duplicate content appearing on multiple sites. At several times in the last year, I’ve considered beginning a second blog or even building a static website elsewhere, but the issue of duplicate content always comes up. In fact, I did build a static website in a second WordPress blog, but I’ve since made it private, partly due to the duplicate content issue. A good friend of mine works in SEO and has warned me about this several times.
I also think that WordPress is a pretty comprehensive blogging system, even the hosted version with its limitations. I tend to think that bloggers using WordPress would benefit more from developing their writing style (their “voice”) and sense of design, and utilising the addition of extra static pages to add to the overall site, rather than starting multiples blogs.
Just my thoughts.
Thanks again for the article. I’m really enjoying reading the entries.
lawrenceez
timethief
January 2, 2010
@Lawrence
You have said: “… personal publishing platforms shutting down blogs really scares me” You misunderstand the situation mybloglog is not a publishing platform for bloggers – it’s a social network.
If you are looking for backup alternatives then IMHO the first step is to backup your work as you create it using an offline blog editor. The next step is to use the export utility provided by wordpress.COM to download your content and copy it to your computer periodically and then store the backups on disc. More here http://onecoolsite.wordpress.com/2007/10/27/disaster-planning-backups-for-bloggers/
I’m a wordpress fan. IMHO wordpress is superior software for blogging and for building a CMS.
Thanks for the feedback on the reading you are doing. I’m glad to hear my posts are helpful. :)
Carl Starrett
January 2, 2010
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, the 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. Yahoo is a rudderless ship…sad to see.
timethief
January 2, 2010
@Carl
Thanks so much for your very thoughtful analysis, and also the link to the techcrunch article which I had missed reading. I think you are right about the difficulty of integrating mybloglog into the rewiring plans. I had the sense that mybloglog would not be around for long when the geocities death knell sounded.
Carl Starrett
January 3, 2010
It was my pleasure. 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.
I first started a personal blog on Yahoo’s 360 service, until they closed it and replaced with their “universal profile system. Which, by the way, 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.
timethief
January 3, 2010
I haven’t completed a Yahoo public profile … lol ;) It’s a shame the way things have gone.
conditionalcognition
January 3, 2010
I was excited when I initially signed up for MyBlogLog, but that soon fizzled out. Similar to your observation, I seemed to only be able to consistently contact people that I already knew from other social networks. If that’s the case, then what’s the point of me going to MyBlogLog, right? As a result, I haven’t really used it much and never felt much benefit from it’s use. I should have taken the badge off my site a long time ago, but this information will push me to do it….now.
Thanks for the update.
timethief
January 3, 2010
I won’t remove the button until the ship sinks … lol :D
ian in hamburg
January 3, 2010
MyWhatWhat? Why am I always so late to the party? :-)
timethief
January 3, 2010
That’s one ship you are probably glad you didn’t sail on. ;)
electricians
January 26, 2010
Thanks a lot for a great post. Keep the great work up.
timethief
January 26, 2010
Well I’ve been at it for 6 years so there’s not much danger of me quitting now.