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August 30, 2007

Yahoo To KickStart Social Networking Efforts

Duncan Riley

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kickstart.jpgYahoo is reported to be working on a new social networking service that matches college students to employers.

Yahoo Kickstart give users profile pages which are focused on the user’s resume, LinkedIn style, as opposed to a Facebook or MySpace profile. Corporations and wannabe employers are then provided with groups that users can join, but with a catch: to join a group you need an invite via a former student who works at that company. For those users who would prefer something a little more social, University pages are open to all students and include discussion forums, bulletins and events.

According to CNet, Yahoo Kickstart is currently a concept only and may or may not see the light of day, either as a stand alone product or as part of an existing Yahoo property such as 360.

Yahoo’s has been trying to deal itself in to the hot social networking space for some time, but with little or no success. The Yahoo 360 blogging come social networking product never took off and Yahoo failed to acquire Facebook. There were even rumors that Yahoo was trying to buy Bebo in May.

More recently Yahoo was rumored to be working on a social networking product by the name of Yahoo Mosh.

  • Sphere It

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 30th, 2007 at 11:55 pm and is filed under Company & Product Profiles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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Comments

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  1. anujk

    August 30th, 2007 at 11:52 pm

    As it goes TRY TRY again until you succeed… Keep trying!!! ;)

  2. editor

    August 31st, 2007 at 12:36 am

    come on duncan, 3/4 of your post are sort of ripped from mashable’s post that came from webware… surely you can write more than just this

    “Yahoo’s has been trying to deal itself in to the hot social networking space for some time, but with little or no success. The Yahoo 360 blogging come social networking product never took off and Yahoo failed to acquire Facebook. There were even rumors that Yahoo was trying to buy Bebo in May.

    More recently Yahoo was rumored to be working on a social networking product by the name of “

  3. Jono

    August 31st, 2007 at 1:04 am

    Idea wont work, Yahoo will close this project up soon.

  4. Duncan Riley

    August 31st, 2007 at 1:16 am

    editor (comment 2)
    I read CNet’s post, then gave it a descriptive summary in my terms with a link in the post. I’ve not read another site covering it yet outside of CNet, if others are good for them, perhaps others were taking my lead? You’d be surprised how many people read TechCrunch first :-)

  5. Patrick

    August 31st, 2007 at 3:03 am

    http://www.iHipo.com launched late June 2007 and is sort of a pioneer for that concept: Social network + Jobsite focused on students and young professionals. After barely 2 months we were able to attract top-tier advertising clients and a good number of signups. We are currently upgrading several important parts of the site (e.g. completely revamped community section) and will introduce other new features soon. Interesting to see that Yahoo might come out with a similar concept now. Duncan: We’ll pass you a new PR shortly which might be a good occasion for TC to have a look at our site.

  6. Thiru

    August 31st, 2007 at 4:16 am

    I guess still there is a place and scope for another social networking giant. Probably, Yahoo should look to release the APIs early as facebook did.

  7. social shopper

    August 31st, 2007 at 5:45 am

    This is an interesting idea. A a recent university graduate I can atest to the difficulties of sorting out employment. I’ll be intrigued to see if they can pull it off!

  8. Max

    August 31st, 2007 at 5:51 am

    Lame giants trying to gain traction as they lose market share…………startups with no USP…….copying lame giants……………
    innovative new tools tied to lame giants loosing market appeal………

    techcrunch reporting the news of everything associated with lame giants……

    is there really a better blog to track something other than lame???…….

    seriously tell me………I’ll go there…………???????????

  9. Chris S

    August 31st, 2007 at 6:00 am

    KickStart obviously is still in the making and not sure if it will really come out. It is interesting why they would release the information or let the information be reported unless they see some urgent/extreme need for it. Similar to how MSFT’s announcement of Live?

    We will be releasing a Private Beta for NetHooks (http://www.nethooks.com) sometime next week after we work out some bugs and minor issues. NetHooks will be offering something similar with more features. We are taking professional networking into a new level. Providing a professional networking avenue for entry level and recent graduates and providing users with the option of having a social profile.

    There are a number of privacy features that will be introduced as well. For example, your social profile can be switched to private so that only specific connections/users can view your photos and other personal information. There is also a system that filters and controls incoming contacts so that you are not bombarded with a lot of irrelevant connection solicitation (Ideal for recruiters and hiring managers) Anyway, look forward for the launch next week.

  10. Dominic

    August 31st, 2007 at 6:03 am

    @MAX

    At least it isn’t more FaceBook crap. I do agree though, yahoo is a day late and a few dollars short. They’re wasting away.

  11. Alfred (PayScroll.com)

    August 31st, 2007 at 6:08 am

    Chris S: Interesting site you’re developing.. but looking at your screenshots, what you guys are trying to do is almost like a “facebook-linkedin-jobster”, but then again the biggest challenge in your path is obviously facebook, so why not build on top of facebook?

  12. Ben

    August 31st, 2007 at 6:34 am

    this is a lot like doostang.com …which has been around for a while (over a year)

  13. Chris S

    August 31st, 2007 at 6:36 am

    Allred, thanks for the feedback…building on top of Facebook is in the works..and will be integrated with the main site after the initial launch. Our main focus is not as much Facebook but more Linkedin. We are focusing on professional networking while at the same time providing a “little” social networking. Social is not the focus of the site but having some social elements will definately increase the professional networking efforts for certain groups of people.

  14. Dave

    August 31st, 2007 at 7:04 am

    Personally, I do not like social networking sites. I’m not in the business of making pseudo-anonymous friends (and I am not looking for a job and would have to be rather desperate if I thought I would find the right job through some web site). As far as marketing goes, I don’t think social networking pays off — too much time involved making all those friends A.K.A. potential customers, and the webmaster ends up looking a bit like a spammer.

  15. DeVer Warner

    August 31st, 2007 at 7:19 am

    I wonder why they’re not just buying doostang’s established userbase (which is fairly vibrant) and employer connections. I bet doostang could be had for less than it will cost to develop and brand KickStart.

  16. chrisco

    August 31st, 2007 at 7:28 am

    @ Mark Z: Sadam didn’t wither away, he was taken out by a childlish little bully named george bush.

  17. ***V***

    August 31st, 2007 at 7:32 am

    This will not succeed. With all other competition (Facebook being the biggest) there is little room for Yahoo!

    I give them an A for effort though.

    V

  18. Joe_Satrianni

    August 31st, 2007 at 7:59 am

    This project will close up soon.

  19. Craig

    August 31st, 2007 at 8:06 am

    Hopefully companies can recruit all students and not just from those friends of employees. It would cut small startups out of alot of talent.

  20. slim

    August 31st, 2007 at 8:21 am

    I think that this is something that should have been done a long time ago if you want to know the truth. College students need a place that will allow them to interact with employers, giving them a head start in their new found careers. I’m all for Yahoo.

  21. User

    August 31st, 2007 at 8:41 am

    Not sure why everyone is so quick to bring up Facebook as a competitor here… It’s a SOCIAL network. For friends and party pics. Students probably don’t want to mix up their job hunt with their girl/boy hunt.

    Look at the job apps on Facebook today… None of them have taken off. Evidence that there needs to be a separate network?

  22. stone

    August 31st, 2007 at 9:06 am

    This is just another case of “too little, too late” for Yahoo. The rats are fleeing the ship for a reason — it’s sinking. The next step for them: they will miss a quarter sometime over the next 6 months and all hell will finally break loose.

  23. Jessya

    August 31st, 2007 at 9:11 am

    What a fantastic Idea! There is hope…. Isn’t there????

    I could have used such a network after school.

  24. Jay

    August 31st, 2007 at 9:25 am

    Im in college, and after reading the first few sentences of this article, I began looking for a link to sign up.

    Please make sure you are part of the target audience before deciding whether a product will succeeed or not.

    Obviously whatever Yahoo comes up with, its not going to be facebook. Nothing will. But making a DIFFERENT product that serves a DIFFERENT purpose may do just fine.

  25. Christian Anderson

    August 31st, 2007 at 9:40 am

    Forum for providing college students with direct connections to recruiters at their favorite companies? Sounds a lot like the biggest careers application on Facebook. Sounds like Yahoo is trying to recreate Jobster.com and our Facebook application (http://apps.facebook.com/jobster).

    Engaging with college students in a social networking setting about careers is very complicated and requires clear lines between work life and social life. It will be very interesting to see what Yahoo comes up with.

    Christian Anderson

  26. Amy Wilsch

    August 31st, 2007 at 9:55 am

    Kickstart as a name is totally overused though.
    There’s that Kick Start guy from Entrepreneur.com
    several companies with the name KickStart in it.
    etc

  27. John

    August 31st, 2007 at 9:59 am

    I agree with Amy.

    John

  28. GR

    August 31st, 2007 at 10:42 am

    Something need to review.

  29. India Web News

    August 31st, 2007 at 11:36 am

    It is good to know that. Atleast we can now expect some better social netowrking platforms from the leaders.

  30. India Web News

    August 31st, 2007 at 11:37 am

    It is good to know that. Atleast we can now expect some better social networking platforms from the leaders.

  31. Rajesh Shakya

    August 31st, 2007 at 11:42 am

    Will be great for head hunting.

  32. Nick

    August 31st, 2007 at 12:43 pm

    Yahoo will not succeed in social networking. The brand name is known but hardly associated with the new age of websites. They need to reinvent themselves entirely, or public perception of the company will not change. This doesn’t sound very innovative and as a college student seeking work, I’m really not tempted to bother with it unless I hear overwhelmingly great things about it.

  33. KingJacob

    August 31st, 2007 at 12:53 pm

    I doubt this will work because where is the motivation for a former student/employee to invite current students.

  34. Adi

    August 31st, 2007 at 1:48 pm

    How many site social networking now ? Is the end of social networking ? I don’t know why Yahoo lauch this site. Need a crowded a market, huuh…..

  35. Chuck Taylor

    August 31st, 2007 at 1:57 pm

    Affinity Circles (www.affinitycircles.com) has been in the market for over two years with recruitment advertising solutions that leverage the trusted social networks of employees to help employers reach quality passive candidates. The company hosts the official online communities for over 120 leading academic alumni organizations and professional trade associations, including well known brands such as Stanford, Berkeley, Wharton, Georgetown, NYU, Dartmouth, U Michigan, etc. These networks collectively represent over 12 million degreed professionals (24% of the college-grad population in the US), 62% of which have over 5 yrs work experience and 22% of which have advanced degrees (MBA, PhD, etc). The audience is very high quality, and the majority of members are passive candidates who will only consider opportunities that come to them via trusted sources.

    To help employers engage candidates in these communities, Affinity Circles has built interactive media products that combine job listings, company branding and profiles of employees who are community members. This “virtual career fair” helps employers build relationships with desirable candidates and encourages quality applications as candidates learn more about the company, the culture, and specific job opportunities. The company has also developed an easy way for employees who are members of the community to provide trusted referrals of interested candidates back to the hiring manager. Many employers have found that leveraging the trusted networks of their employees is far more effective and economical than paying for contingency recruiters, who frequently charge 20-40% of first year compensation yet have only superficial knowledge of the employer and the candidate.

  36. User

    August 31st, 2007 at 2:28 pm

    Affinity Circles looks Web 1.0 (Web 0.5)? This Kickstart thing will be welcomed…

  37. Affinity Circles inCircle User

    August 31st, 2007 at 2:57 pm

    Diagree “User”. I use the Affinity Circles application from my Alumni Association and it is definitely not Web 1.0. Kickstart may be welcomed, but it is not different that what Facebook offers today. At least what Affinity Circles provides is value that I can’t get elsewhere.

  38. dubious

    August 31st, 2007 at 4:37 pm

    Has anyone seen http://Top20Network.com

  39. Scott Rafer

    August 31st, 2007 at 5:36 pm

    There’s another social network Yahoo owns. It’s the one that runs on this page — MyBlogLog.

  40. Steve Ballmer

    August 31st, 2007 at 9:59 pm

    Doomed to fail!
    Even facebook is doomed, only MS can really pull this off!

    http://fakesteveballmer.blogspot.com

  41. Matthew

    September 1st, 2007 at 12:04 pm

    I think this idea will work great.

  42. Yaq

    September 1st, 2007 at 3:52 pm

    http://www.framecaster.com

  43. Bharati Dalela

    September 5th, 2007 at 4:46 am

    Better late than never, although I think it will miss out on the first mover advantage and keep busy catching up.

  44. phenom

    September 21st, 2007 at 11:53 am

    orkut rocks
    http://vidsonly.blogspot.com/

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