We're! not! a! social! network! yells! Yahoo!

Despite spending most of the past few years trying to make its services more social, Yahoo! is now claiming that it is definitely NOT a social network - and resents being lumped in with Google and Facebook to face charges in India of hosting “objectionable content” online. The faded web pioneer filed a strongly worded …

[melt]

So they're not a search engine and they're not a social network. Tell you what Yahoo!, call us back when you've decided what you *are*.

[Ken 16]

I thought they were a search engine, certainly the last time I used them, back in about 1999

[Bumpy Cat]

Fatwa online? That's pretty convenient!

Dear Mufti,

Do you have an iphone or android app? I'd like to submit a fatwa against my manager, but I don't want to use my desktop here at work.

Kind regards,

Bumpy

[squilookle]

So, they have been spending money trying to become more like a social network when it suits them (and might help them stay relevant), but they distance themselves from the idea of being a social network when it suits them (and might help them avoid getting dragged into a legal dispute)...

This is surprising in no way, shape or form...

[Piloti]

Looks like.....

.... Aijaz Arshad Qasmi had to look long and hard to find the 21 companies to be offended by.

Very small tail wagging a very large dog.

I have to say this, but I do have some sympathy with these 'social tools'. Ok, I am not a Facebook fan / user, but if Mr Qasmi doen't like it, then stop #$%&ing looking at it...!!

[Vladimir Plouzhnikov]

Of course they are not a social network

There is no such thing as social network. All Linked-Ins, Facepukes etc are, at most, social file servers where you can give others permission to look into your directory.

[Harry]

I reckon they're an ANTI-social network,

They have contracted with far too many software vendors to "accidentally" install unwanted Yahoo toolbars.

That by my definition is highly ANTI-social.

If the only way you can get people to visit your site is to foist unwanted toolbars on them, then its pretty much a confirmation that you don't think your site is good enough for people to want to visit purely on its merits or lack thereof.

[Bjorg]

Re: I reckon they're an ANTI-social network,

Simply not true. It's a tactic to expose your site to as many people as possible. Annoying, sure, but smart. You can't possibly think that Google doesn't think their site is good enough. Google was (possibly still is) the biggest offender here through the 2000s. They still bundle the toolbar with Firefox and paid a ton of money to do it.

[David Eddleman]

Not a social network?

Then what the hell have they been doing with Profiles (then Pulse, now Profile (singular))? Seriously, if that's not social networking, at least some decentralized methodology, then someone there has no clue what a social network *is*.

[kain preacher]

Is there such a thing a shrink for a corporation ? If so Yahoo needs to book an appointment right away .

[Harry]

Re "They still bundle the toolbar with Firefox"

The toolbar that's bundled with Firefox is a *universal* search toolbar. Google is its default, but it is preconfigured to work with a number of other search sites (including yahoo) and you can add others with an addon.

That's one of the reasons why foisting unwanted yahoo toolbars on people is unlikely to have achieved more than aggravation. Anybody who wants yahoo as their search only has to click the *existing* dropdown and configure it there. Anybody who didn't want yahoo as their search engine is likely to keep on using the original firefox toolbar (and, if they don't know how to remove it, moaning about the space the unwanted toolbar is using).