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Yahoo Buys MyBlogLog…

From Techcrunch:
Yahoo Buys MyBlogLog. No, They Didn’t. Wait, Yes.

Ok so it’s official and confirmed from Yahoo: They bought MyBlogLog. This was first rumored to be happening in November, but was never confirmed and we updated our post to reflect that. This morning the news broke again but was pulled immediately afterwards. Now it’s popped up again. …

(Were Yahoo waiting for me to get an account?) MyBlogLog is a happening place right now, and the supposed price paid is small change for Yahoo, so I don’t think this is a bad move on their part. In the past they’ve been criticised for the quality of the user experience on their home site, so let’s hope they don’t try to mess too much with what’s made MyBlogLog what it is.

In part I’d attribute MyBlogLog’s success to the relative simplicity of its interface. It’s easy to find other users and make a tentative initial contact with them which can be firmed up over time. The other factor is its perceived utility in bringing traffic to your blogs, which is why a large part of the community seems to be SEO experts, or those who claim to be such.

If Yahoo sticks to doing the right thing – beefing up server capacity, dealing more rigorously with spammers, adding new features only after careful consideration and consultation – this could be a good thing for MyBlogLog. But new owners of online services often kill the golden goose when they don’t pay enough attention to the cultural side of what they’ve bought, so this gets a very cautious modest thumbs-up from me.