Yahoo created a buzz with some changes the first week of March, 2014. One big development was the acquisition of Vizify, a Portland-based startup that allows users to create infographics, graphical bios and videos from their social media data. Vizify made it clear in their blog that they will be shutting down their services. New signups or purchase of paid plans is no longer allowed. They are issuing a full refund for those having a current paid plan. All free and paid bioholders will be provided with an option to archive a snapshot of their current bio which will stay live at the same URL until September 4, 2014. Though they are not ready to talk about what exactly is up next, Yahoo expressed excitement about bringing in a more visual approach to data.
Another story is about the plan to eliminate Google and Facebook sign-in options for Yahoo services. According to a Reuters report, Yahoo will stop allowing users to access its various online services such as Fantasy Sports and Flickr using either Facebook or Google credentials. Yahoo spokeswoman said the transition will be gradual as the users will have to register for a Yahoo ID to use any of the Yahoo services. The report also says the new sign-in process will begin later in March 2014 with the service, Yahoo Sports Tourney Pick’Em (which focuses on the NCAA college basketball tournament). Though Yahoo has not revealed the real intention behind this move, the company said in a statement that it is constantly working on enhancing the user experience and the new sign-in process will allow them to provide users with an enhanced personalized experience. Users with genuine Yahoo IDs are more likely to use other Yahoo services and so their activities can be tracked and their experienced personalized more easily.
However, if you go to Flickr, you can see the users can still access the service with their Facebook or Google IDs. According to the Reuters report, Yahoo’s spokeswoman said that both Facebook and Google sign-in buttons would be removed eventually from all Yahoo properties. However, definite timeframe was not given as to when this would come into effect.
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