By most accounts, the post-Google world hasn't been especially kind to our friends over at Yahoo! Sure they've snapped up a few sites like Flickr, and launched a couple of new services of their own, such as Yahoo! Green, Answers, and the unfortunate OMG, but on a whole, the company has had a bit of trouble keeping afloat in the land of Web 2.0.
Yahoo!, like any Web media conglomerate worth their weight in failed start-ups, has attempted to get their hand in every single facet of the online pot imaginable. One aspect that has managed to elude them altogether thus far, however, is the ever-popular world of social networking. The company has largely sat by, as sites like Facebook and Myspace have become among some of the Web's most popular--okay they did bid on Facebook and Beebo, but that didn't get them too far... Granted, Google never really set the world on fire in the space, but they did acquire the traditionally elusive Orkut.
Currently in invite-only beta, Yahoo's new site, Mash, is an attempt to make up for lost social networking time. Having finally buckled under pressure, creating a Facebook account some two weeks ago, I had little to lose by signing up for Mash, so sign up I did.
My first impressions of the site are generally pretty positive. The layout is far less vomit-inducing that Myspace (not a huge accomplishment, granted), and is quite easily customized. Granted, there aren't as many "pimping" options available as there are on other social networking sites, but the rather extensive use of AJaX makes editing the thing a snap.
In terms of personal interests, the site prompts you to fill out a form similar to those time-killing social networking quizes, asking you what you'll likely be doing in the future and things you're most likely to say, rather than the standard method of listing your favorite movies and bands. It's a nice change from standard social networking fare, but those who are into creating long lists of totally sweet bands (and really, who isn't?) might not be all that excited about the change.
Mash uses your Webmail contacts to locate friends. Enter the user name and password for your Yahoo!, Gmail, or Hotmail accounts, and it will scour your list for contacts on the service. You have the option of requesting the listed friends and inviting the remainder of the contacts on the list to use the service. Just be careful to leave boxes unchecked, or else you'll be spamming everyone you've ever met.
I'd like to see a few more friend discovery methods. As it stands, it's not possible to browse for people if you don't have their current e-mail address--so much for finding those old high school friends.
In all, Mash is pretty snazzy for a beta app. There are still a few bugs, which isn't especially surprising given its early stage and the fact that Yahoo! may have been forced to rush it out a bit sooner than expected.
The big question is: does the world really need another social networking app? Not really, but it still may prove successful. There are those out there who will build profiles on every existing social networking site, just because it exists. If Mash develops enough innovating new features to set it apart from Facebook or Myspace (still a long way off at this early stage), then it may be able become competitive in the space, after all.
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