Yahoo Meme launch means yet another microblogging service
Yahoo’s new microblogging service called Meme is perfect for anyone who’s bored of just updating their Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr pages and wants to branch out even further.
Yahoo Meme originally launched in mid-August as a Spanish-language microblogging service where you can post text, images, videos and music. Now Yahoo Meme has an English-language site that is opening up to new users.
Customization
Aside from the ability to post media on your blog or repost items from someone else’s page, Yahoo Meme doesn’t allow much in terms of customization. You can add a title, description and avatar to make it your own.
Contrast this with Twitter and Tumblr where you can customize your theme with background images and custom CSS to style your text. Meme certainly isn’t going to win over any users there.
Vocabulary
Both Twitter and Tumblr have a rich faux-cabulary that helps to define how you use the service. You tweet at your tweeple and post new media to your tumblelog.
However the name Yahoo Meme doesn’t seem to lend itself to a common vocabulary. Do you post messages or memes, and wouldn’t it be slightly arrogant to say that everything you post will spread like a meme?
Timing
In business, even on the Internet, the first mover’s advantage in coining a new kind of tool is enormous. Also handy is the second mover’s advantage, but even if you don’t count Facebook this is third mover’s advantage curse.
Yahoo’s just trying to muscle its way into the microblogging space without bringing much to the party. If big companies want in on innovative products, can’t they just pay the startup founders some respect and buy their companies?
Who knows, maybe Yahoo Meme will become the Orkut of microblogging. It can be the awkward cousin of Tumblr that’s really popular in another language for some unknown reason.
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