Yahoo backs off social network plan

Internet media giant Yahoo is backing off from a hot Web phenomenon—social networking. It announced on Tuesday its plans to shut down its experimental networking site made in and for India but never got launched, reports Ruchi Hajela.

Internet media giant Yahoo is backing off from a hot Web phenomenon—social networking. It announced on Tuesday its plans to shut down its experimental networking site made in and for India but never got launched.

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‘SpotM’ was being designed and tested in a private trial mode out by the Yahoo’s research and development centre in Bangalore since September 2008.

SpotM was in the works amid the emerging clout of sites like Orkut and Facebook.

“Our view is that social is not just about a destination where you can go and have some connections. Social is about sharing, connecting and what we have done to our homepage and mail is a part of socialising the experience,” Arun Tadanki, managing director — India, Middle East and Africa told Hindustan Times.

Industry estimates suggest 50 per cent of the country’s 49 million Internet users are on social networking sites.

“We are not saying we won’t have a social destination, we may have a social destination but that may not be the only thing,” Tadanki said.