The internet is full of apps, programs, and software that allow us to communicate, be it text messages, audio calls, or video calls. Yahoo is one of those that is giving its contribution to the growth of the digital world since its launch.
Even though it isn’t behind other social giants like Google and Facebook, Yahoo has always done its best to make its movement count. One such useful tool was Yahoo Groups, but sadly they don’t exist anymore.
One fine day when I tried to access my Yahoo groups and found them missing; It took me a long hour to realize that the company had decided to take them down.
The Rise of Yahoo Groups
Yahoo Groups belong to the early Internet era when there were no Google or Facebook groups. Also, there were only a tenth of internet users compared to today. They gave rise to group discussions based on different niches, for example there were communities of TV show fans who used to discuss their favorite TV shows or groups related to computer or technology related topics. Users can share files, images; create surveys and mailing lists, and much more.
Launched on January 30, 2001, Yahoo Groups helped its users build relationships, stay in touch with family and friends, share ideas with them, and discuss things of common interest through email and Web-based tools. One of its notable features was that it allowed you to read and reply to email chains; that was mostly an exchange between a message board and a Listserv.
It may seem basic now in 2020 when everything is so far along, but back in 2001, things were different. Wikipedia launched the same year as Yahoo Groups, so now you can imagine how fascinating it was back then.
It was in 2010, Yahoo got 115 million group users and 10 million groups. Yahoo even had a contract with around 100 carriers and phone manufacturers to pre-install Yahoo apps on their mobile devices.
However, Facebook was giving stiff competition to Yahoo and it became difficult for the latter to survive the competition and retain its user base. Yahoo even tried to promote its groups and display them better than Facebook groups at various events.
According to Yahoo CEO Greg Rosenberg, “On Facebook, if you have hundreds of friends, you have to be careful about posting something that might be offensive or just not relevant to someone. With Yahoo Groups, you can start a neighborhood page with a smaller group, for example, that would be of interest only to neighbors who live in the neighborhood.”
The fall of Yahoo groups
With the increase in the number of social platforms, Yahoo Groups began to lose presence and even impacted the entire brand throughout 2010. It was then in 2017 that Verizon bought Yahoo’s operating business for $4.48 billion. It formed a new subsidiary called “Oath”, which included both Yahoo and AOL, but could not even compete with Facebook and Google.
After nearly two decades of operation, Yahoo Groups will shut down on December 15, 2020, and users will have until December 14, 2020 to download their content.
Here is the official tweet from Yahoo Customer Support:
You can also take a look at the announcement on the official Yahoo Groups website:
After December 15, all types of content such as files, surveys, links, photos, folders, calendar, database, attachments, conversations, summary, message history, email updates and messages will be removed from the platform. So if you were thinking about what happened to Yahoo groups, I hope you got the answer.
Also, if you’re wondering “Does the Yahoo Group still exist?”, yes, but only until December 15th. There will be no effect on Yahoo Mail features, however, Yahoo Groups features such as photos, folders, calendars, email updates, polls. and the message history will no longer be operational.
The company has mentioned the reason for the closure of Yahoo Groups as follows:
“Privacy is critical and we have made this decision to better align with our general principles. If you want to keep some of the content you’ve posted or stored in your Yahoo Group, please download it before December 14.” as told by the Yahoo team to its users in an email.
“Photos and files can be saved directly from the Yahoo Groups site, or you can download your data from the Privacy Dashboard.” yahoo said.
Does that mean it’s all gone? Not really, the Yahoo Groups directory will still be accessible.
Current state of Yahoo groups
Yahoo Group saw huge competition from Facebook, Google and Twitter which led to its eventual demise. Before they became giants, Yahoo tried to fight back, but only received disappointment in return. Here’s an overview of your beloved Yahoo Groups’ journey:
| nineteen ninety six | Foundation of eGroups (FindMail) |
| 1997 | ONElist Foundation |
| 1998 | Launch of Yahoo Clubs |
| 1999 | ONElist merges with eGroups |
| 2000 | Yahoo acquires eGroups |
| 2001 | Yahoo Groups launched and removed adult groups |
| 2004 | Launch of Yahoo Groups Japan |
| 2009 | Yahoo Groups has more than 100 million users |
| 2010 | Yahoo Groups has 2.2 million groups |
| 2014 | Closure of Yahoo Groups Japan |
| 2015 | Yahoo Groups has 2.7 million groups down |
| 2020 | Yahoo Groups will shut down on December 15 |
Where to find Yahoo groups?
If you’re looking for your Yahoo groups, you can only find them through email. You will no longer be able to visit the Website or use any of its features.
Alternatives to Yahoo Groups
You must be missing Yahoo groups not knowing what to do now. There is nothing to worry about as there are plenty of apps that work similar to Yahoo Groups and are available on the internet to fill the gap.
You want a platform where users can share information, discuss common interests and exchange the information they want, these are the available options:
- Facebook groups
- google groups
- skype
It is the most popular on the list, and if you are a Facebook user, you can create a group, post information, share files and images, and use other features. You can even decide between private or public groups. Also, the ability to create events received a lot of approval from users in the Facebook group.
Like Yahoo Groups, Google Groups are meant to help with communication. Another similarity is that you can send an email to all group members through the same email address. Other than that, document sharing and event management are additional features of Gmail Groups. However, they are not as popular as Facebook groups, but considering the number of Gmail users, the idea is not so bad.
If you want something that makes both text and video calls easy, Skype is a good choice. It is very easy to make group calls with Skype and it is very popular these days. Also, in a group video call, you can add up to 50 participants.
Last words
Yahoo groups don’t exist like they used to. But you can still look for the available alternatives that can facilitate communication in a much better way. Moving to advanced technology is always better as you get a wider range of features to work with.
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Categories: Technology
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
