The new social network on the block, Yahoo Mash, looks promising
We were recently invited to beta test Yahoo’s new social networking site, Mash, which has just recently opened the doors as invitation-only service, allowing friends of friends to test run the Internet’s latest social network.
Although the team leader at Y! Mash, Will Aldrich, describes the site as being “pretty raw,” for a beta version, it’s a pretty impressive social network.
“There are bugs, and we haven’t gotten to several of the features it really should have. We need to hear from you about where to focus our efforts. So leave comments here in the blog, on my profile, or on Mash’s suggestions board. We’re listening,” said Aldrich.
All the visual aspects of your profile can be modified from your profile’s page, without having to navigate to an “edit my profile” page.
One unique aspect to Mash is the ability to edit others’ profiles. Nearly any change a user could make to their own profile can be performed on a stranger’s profile as well. Of course, there is an option to disable changes or to only allow “friends” to edit your page.
Profile layout is performed though a list of modules which can be added to your page (e.g. guestbook, Flickr RSS, blog module, my YouTube videos, etc,…).
One module, known as “The Mash Pet,” is a virtual character which seems to be a lightweight version of a Neopet, though very unattractive in a hip way. Visitors can perform various actions such as feed, pet, mash, lick, and even kill the little dude.
Friends’ comments are added via. the guestbook module, while also allowing visitors to your page to see comments you’ve left for others.
Profile styling and customization is extremely important to users of social networks, as they allow for a differentiation and personalization of a user’s page; though, styling your profile (or others’ for that matter) in Mash is a bit modest at the moment.
The “Style this profile” module, in its basic form, allows only for a custom background image, font and link color, and module block color and border; however, there is an “advanced mode” that allows you to enter your own custom CSS.
One of the brilliant features of Mash is the “this profile is fugly link.” Often times, users will style their page in such a manner that makes it impossible to read text and explore a user’s profile. The fugly link allows you to see a version of the page that is bare-bone, disabling all the changes that the user has made to the styling.
Since it’s not uncommon for users to hold an account at many social networking sites, we’re not going to claim Mash to be a MySpace or Facebook killer. But, Overall, Yahoo Mash seems to be a pretty stable social network with a variety of fresh and unique features.
The success of Mash will ultimately be determined by the people who use it. To help beta test Mash, we suggest trying to get an invite through InviteShare.com.
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September 16th, 2007
Yet another social network. I can’t even count how many I’m already signed up for. Granted, I got an invite for it today myself… but I’m still not impressed. They are really going to have to blow my mind for me to continue using it with any sort of frequency.