Yahoo! has recently launched their micro-blogging service, Meme. On first look, it may look like a Tumblr clone, but let me assure you it is a smart investment.
Also feature wise too, it isn’t a mere clone of tumblr or twitter , the latest internet sensation. Here is a quick comparison of three services:
| Meme | Tumblr | |
|---|---|---|
| You can post text, link to an audio or video content. | You can post text, audio, video, quote, chat or a link | You can post only text and links to other types of media hosted elsewhere. |
| No character limit for posting content. | No character limit for posting content. | Message has to be at most of 140 characters. |
| You can repost others’ content. Origin is always credited. | You can reblog others’ content. | You can retweet others content. Crediting the origin is optional. |
| You can comment on content posted by others. You can also refer to friends by “/friendname” | You can “like” others content and comment on it. | Commenting not available. However you can reply to one’s tweet using @friendname. |
| You can listen to music inline and also watch embedded video without leaving the site. | Possible in tumblr too. | Not possible. |
| Offers site in multiple languages – Portuguese, Spanish and English | English only. | English only. Though you can post content in any language. |
So what is unique in Yahoo! meme? How does it expect to beat competition? IMHO, it is relying on two key Yahoo! strengths:
1. meme’s amazing visual design, which makes you come back and post more content.
2. Yahoo! ’s huge network of 500 mn users.
Yahoo! started launching this website from Latin America, slowly bringing it to more and more users with new languages. It has a good chance to succeed if they capture the markets which are untouched by tumblr and specifically twitter. Then they can wage a full scale war against twitter. But this has confirmed one thing, the game is far from over. Watch out for more in coming months !
The war for becoming the largest social network on planet is still on.
