Sunday, November 27, 2011

Yahoo! Pulse Becoming Yahoo! Profile This Week

On December 1st Yahoo! Pulse will become Yahoo! Profile. If you have not already, head out there and make the switch yourself now. (Edit: It is now past the first; keep reading to find out was has changed and how to update your new profile.)

You will be greeted with the below message on Pulse as soon as you arrive.





Take a few moments and read "see what this change means to you"; screenshot here and text below.
Timeline for the New Yahoo! Profile
  • You can opt in to Yahoo! Profile as soon as it's available on November 3.
  • If you want to transfer back to Yahoo! Pulse, you can, until December 1.
  • On December 1, everyone still on Pulse will automatically start using the new Yahoo! Profile.
What Happens When You Transfer to the New Yahoo! Profile
  • We'll transfer your Yahoo! Pulse information for you. There's no work for you to do.
  • Your social games will move to games.yahoo.com. Your apps will move to my.yahoo.com.
  • You will be able to manage your Updates on Yahoo! Profile, but you will not be able to see them on Yahoo! Profile. (You will continue to see Updates on other Yahoo! sites and can continue to view your Updates stream in Yahoo! Messenger desktop for Windows.)
What Happens to Your Connections in Pulse and to Your Privacy Levels
  • When you transfer to Yahoo! Profile, your Connections in Pulse will be discontinued. This will not affect your contacts in your Yahoo! Mail Address Book.
  • Yahoo! Profile will have two privacy levels, "public" and "private."
  • Any information that is public in Yahoo! Pulse will remain public in Yahoo! Profile. Any information that is private in Yahoo! Pulse will remain private in Yahoo! Profile, unless you choose to make it public.
  • Any information that is visible to your Connections in Pulse will be set to "private" in Yahoo! Profile. You have the option to change the setting, if you like.
Yahoo! Profile is now available. Start using it!
Thank you for using Yahoo! Pulse, and have fun with Yahoo! Profile.

All that could mean that Yahoo! has given up on its social endeavors. The new Profile is just that, a simple profile that has information about you. The network of friends you made and activities you used to do with Pulse will be gone, or transferred to other Yahoo! properties. Let's not forget that Google's first public step towards Google+ was with Google Profiles; it is unlikely, but possible, that Yahoo! is following a new path to social domination. The placeholder link for "Community Guidelines" in the footer of the new page makes me wonder.

Once you "Start using it" you will be taken to the new settings screen. Here you can edit your personal information, privacy settings, and automatic sharing options. Review everything by clicking the pencil in the upper right-hand corner of each section to review the data/options. Much more data is there than is seen on this initial look.




Inside each section you elect the privacy of each data point. The default is private for information previously marked as private or for connections only (since connections are going away), and previously public information will remain that way. The only item you can not make private is your location, but you can simply blank out the field if you want.
= Public

= Private



The final product is a very simple profile; mine is live here. Did you see that web address? The first enhancement they should make is to provide a vanity URL, even if it simply equals the users Yahoo! alias.



I am glad to see Yahoo! discontinue Pulse, but the replacement is certainly lacking. It ended up being a mess and didn't work out the way they had intended. Cleaning up the user interface is a welcome change. Although, many people did use it and may miss it. Project Phoenix by AOL may be a viable replacement with some of the Yahoo! Pulse functionality; you can even import your Yahoo! email there. Otherwise users can use Yahoo! Mail, Messenger, and Games.

What do you think of the new Profile? Has Yahoo! made a mistake removing a service you found useful?
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59 comments:

  1. AnonymousDecember 1, 2011 at 2:40 PM

    Members should be able to search members by location, interest, and extremely importantly by a keyword! on their profile. This is how connections and social networks are made in the cyberworld. This is something the original Yahoo never lived up to. They can still save their existing customer base just by doing that. Otherwise it is pretty much done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousDecember 1, 2011 at 3:02 PM

    this yahoo profile....you can't do anything with it. it's useless.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownDecember 2, 2011 at 2:17 AM

    Anonymous (first one): It would be nice to have a search function, but then what? There is no follow or connect feature. Yahoo! seems to be making this the profile for all their services so if you are using something and want to know who a user is you will be directed to Profiles.

    ReplyDelete
  4. UnknownDecember 2, 2011 at 2:19 AM

    Anonymous (second one): I agree! It is basic information only. It will be interesting to see if and what they build off of it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. AnonymousDecember 2, 2011 at 8:00 AM

    I don't like it. I did figured out how to view my friends profile (depends on the what name they're using). Type in: profiles.yahoo.com/person's name. In my particular case, I had to type in their messenger name to find it. It's pretty much useless, Yahoo Profiles.

    ReplyDelete
  6. AnonymousDecember 2, 2011 at 12:55 PM

    this new Profiles is horrid. where do i read my comments and replies to posts i make on blogs and news articles now? that has disappeared.

    yahoo messenger for windows? what is this 2001? people use mac and linux now too you know.

    yahoo has shot themselves in the foot with this one.

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownDecember 2, 2011 at 1:13 PM

    I found Messenger for Mac (http://messenger.yahoo.com/platform/mac) and the web version (accessed in Yahoo! Mail) should work for Linux.

    Good point about the replies and posts; it was nice to have them all in one spot.

    Yahoo! has been on the decline for some time and this may be part of a plan to simplify and streamline before they are bought up.

    ReplyDelete
  8. AnonymousDecember 4, 2011 at 4:46 PM

    How can I update my yahoo mail status?? where should I go?? I'm confused!

    ReplyDelete
  9. UnknownDecember 4, 2011 at 5:11 PM

    You would have to do it from Yahoo! Messenger for Windows, which is also the place to see what updates are going out. There is no place online to update your status anymore. You can adjust where your updates are shared by going here.

    My advice is to not use Yahoo! for social activity anymore. It is now a mail or chat client only.

    Good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousDecember 4, 2011 at 5:30 PM

    Is there any way that I can switch back to old version?

    ReplyDelete
  11. UnknownDecember 4, 2011 at 5:39 PM

    No, you can not change your Yahoo profile back to the old version. They have forced everyone to use the new version as of December 1st.

    ReplyDelete
  12. AnonymousDecember 5, 2011 at 3:45 AM

    This new Yahoo Profile system is thoroughly useless and will no doubt receive endless, unanimous dislike. Why? Which genius in Yahoo actually thought this was a good idea?

    ReplyDelete
  13. AnonymousDecember 6, 2011 at 4:03 AM

    To yahoo team, you might as well remove the reply item on comment on yahoo article if you decided to remove Yahoo pulse. We do need it, to see comments replied by others, now you just make it hard for us.

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousDecember 6, 2011 at 9:36 AM

    I think the idea of a focused and powerful Yahoo! Profile is a great idea ... but what has upset me and others is that for those interested in using Yahoo! social networking or creative sharing tools, they have continually cut us off at the knees. In my case, I use Yahoo! Mail for personal communications and would love to have even simple tools (as I had hoped Pulse would be) built around that experience.

    I use some of the Yahoo development tools (e.g., YUI3, their Javascript toolkit) and from following that world, I know there is a lot of activity under the hood, and a lot of activity, both strategic and specific, oriented to improving their services, the user experience, integration with other services, etc.

    Trying to navigate their services, though, can be quite frustrating.

    With millions of users (a fact they are proud to brag about) you would think they might dedicate at least one staff person to act as a translator between Yahoo and its users. I find it hard to believe that the drivel written on their help pages is much more than a half-hearted effort to check off some requirements in a document.

    I think they have interesting things brewing, though. For one, their webmail rewrite was pretty impressive. Meme looks interesting too.

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousDecember 7, 2011 at 11:58 AM

    cant find my posts!! what good is this dogs#!t for anyway? good move yahoo, youve lost a butt load members

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousDecember 8, 2011 at 12:49 PM

    I hate it! Where are my comments? They used to be in my profile...which was a great feature. This was just change, for change sake...useless.

    ReplyDelete
  17. AnonymousDecember 8, 2011 at 1:38 PM

    You lost me!

    ReplyDelete
  18. AnonymousDecember 9, 2011 at 4:12 PM

    I agree. What a useless entity this has become. If I can't easily find my replies to posts or thumbs up / down, wtf is the point? I have to do this via yahoo messenger for windows? Really? What sense does that make? And also, yes, their new front page also sucks compared to their old one. I think yahoo is trying to self implode, much like this country seems to be wanting to do!

    ReplyDelete
  19. AnonymousDecember 11, 2011 at 10:12 AM

    How do you view your news comments? It certainly is NOT ON YAHOO MESSENGER!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousFebruary 14, 2012 at 1:09 PM

      Good. I thought it was just me. I went to the trouble to download and install messenger and I can't see anywhere I can find my posts.
      What good is posting a new stories opinion if you can't see how others react to it or reply.

      Delete
  20. AnonymousDecember 12, 2011 at 3:41 AM

    I do not like this new yahoo profile! I can't even edit it as it won't let me. Also, they have your name at the top of the page in big black block letters that looks slightly demented.

    How about bringing 360 back or at least Pulse?

    I sure hope they're not going to just leave the profiles like this!

    ReplyDelete
  21. AnonymousDecember 14, 2011 at 7:51 PM

    So if it's possible to have a new social network on yahoo will it be the same? it's going to happen the same? start removing all the good stuff
    I totally deslike this new yahoo profile it is lame we cannot even meet new people
    I hope yaho is doing something to get things better or people will quit yahoo

    ReplyDelete
  22. vijuDecember 15, 2011 at 3:17 AM

    where are the connections i need for social games!!!! what the hell was yahoo thinking!!! so angry with that dumb profile page! why did they discontinue connections - such a stupid change - the new page looks dull, boring, useless!!!

    ReplyDelete
  23. AnonymousDecember 17, 2011 at 3:51 PM

    Yahoo Profile has now become the proverbial teats on a Boar Pig!

    ReplyDelete
  24. AnonymousDecember 18, 2011 at 3:37 AM

    I don't understand the logic behind this change. Why should I need to install an additional messenger program just to see my comments on articles and such (I'm already using Adium for all my messengers)?

    This is why things like this need to be kept optional.

    ReplyDelete
  25. barryDecember 20, 2011 at 3:06 AM

    they had profiles, back when, but they killed them for pulse! now they want to go back!?

    i just checked mine. it still has the settings from before: "almost nothing"

    i'll leave it that way... this is all bullshit. yahoo's nothing but free email. everything else is a joke!

    ReplyDelete
  26. AnonymousDecember 20, 2011 at 11:47 PM

    They took away everything useful, photos, contacts and the ability to contact anybody, blogs, comments and guestbook. Their reason was "to serve us better." So service now means remove all service? Welcome to 1984 where words change to mean whatever "the man" says they mean.

    ReplyDelete
  27. AnonymousDecember 21, 2011 at 11:11 PM

    i'm now just using yahoo for email. F Yahoo

    ReplyDelete
  28. AnonymousDecember 23, 2011 at 12:46 AM

    It was really nice to access my news comments.
    If they don't restore a quick access to past comments I'll lose interest. It was an awesome social gathering but it's been semi muted now.

    ReplyDelete
  29. AnonymousDecember 23, 2011 at 7:14 PM

    I get udates on my comments through my email but no way to respond. hope they chang back

    ReplyDelete
  30. AnonymousDecember 24, 2011 at 1:21 AM

    Yeah, it looks like they killed off Yahoo Connections, for sharing updates, and they are really pushing Facebook for "social reading", er frictionless sharing, so without a good way to access your comments, I wouldn't be surprised if one day soon there is suddenly a Facebook comments box at the bottom of each article...
    And I agree, their communication skill suck.

    ReplyDelete
  31. AnonymousDecember 26, 2011 at 5:00 AM

    It's stupid the new yahoo profile, i can't share statuses with my frients and many other things!! Why?? i want back the old one!

    ReplyDelete
  32. AnonymousDecember 27, 2011 at 9:08 AM

    I don't like it at all. But I hate change. For me, the old way worked and I liked having connections there!
    Looks like they are achieving their goal in pissing people off. Yahoo is going down hill. The chatrooms use to be great, but they simply suck. Now this! They are blocking off our socialising avenues. *sarcastic* Yeah good job yahoo team. MSN is going to be getting even more of my time if they want to keep things this way!!!

    ReplyDelete
  33. AnonymousDecember 28, 2011 at 2:28 PM

    It's a free service you idiots. Get used to it or stop using it.

    You are the product.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousJanuary 12, 2012 at 9:48 PM

      Clearly you don't have enough knowledge about this to make a valid point, so just hush up.

      Delete
    2. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2012 at 1:43 AM

      "It's a free service you idiots. Get used to it or stop using it."

      Hey, jackass. Yahoo is in business to make money, a ton of it through advertising. We are customers. Yahoo doesn't exist as a public service, so shut your fat mouth.

      Delete
  34. AnonymousDecember 31, 2011 at 6:50 PM

    I cannot connect with the new Profile; When I click on "start using it" it goes....nowhere. It has been this way for weeks.

    In the address bar I get : http://profile.yahoo.com/y/activate/#,
    with the "#" showing when I click on the "Start Now" highlight.

    Any ideas?

    ReplyDelete
  35. AnonymousJanuary 2, 2012 at 5:35 PM

    this new yahoo profile sucks you cant even look at your posts in their news pages like you use to this thing is useless go back to the old system where there was some form of freedom

    ReplyDelete
  36. pudge pudgertonJanuary 2, 2012 at 5:39 PM

    what do you expect from a company that pushes communism you get useless crap just like communism

    ReplyDelete
  37. AnonymousJanuary 2, 2012 at 11:12 PM

    This new yahoo! profile is stupid. I wish they would change it back!

    ReplyDelete
  38. AnonymousJanuary 3, 2012 at 4:01 AM

    I hate everything about the new yahoo!

    ReplyDelete
  39. AnonymousJanuary 4, 2012 at 7:57 AM

    oh now wow, its back to where it was 1996... lol

    ReplyDelete
  40. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2012 at 12:07 AM

    I can only guess some head of their IT department got sold on this shit system because they thought it would be good. That's the trouble with eager staff thinking they can improve by throwing out the old and replacing it with an over-complicated and pointless new system. I've seen it happen so many times... I bet the coding for this is really bloated too.

    Simple is always better. Too many big egos and not enough common sense.

    ReplyDelete
  41. AnonymousJanuary 11, 2012 at 9:04 PM

    You idiot! Yahoo! Pulse was way better than Profile! Profile is stupid, and completely useless!

    ReplyDelete
  42. AnonymousJanuary 12, 2012 at 9:46 PM

    Hey Yahoo! Thanks for taking away all the convenience of Yahoo!Pulse and replacing it with inconvenience. Where in the world do i view my comments? My updates? My photos? My shared media? All i see now with this "new and improved" profile is a block with my name and gender. That's it. Useless. Instead of changing it automatically, you should have made this thing OPTIONAL. Thanks. Thanks for nothing.

    ReplyDelete
  43. AnonymousJanuary 14, 2012 at 3:06 PM

    The only reason why I ever used the profile was to look at my comments and see if I had replies. That is gone so I guess I have no use for my yahoo account anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  44. AnonymousJanuary 15, 2012 at 6:23 PM

    Don't like it. to confusing for seniors to find answers and solve problems. Pl change bac.

    ReplyDelete
  45. AnonymousJanuary 18, 2012 at 9:05 PM

    I can't figure out how to connect with people now! How do I do it?

    ReplyDelete
  46. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2012 at 10:17 PM

    yahoo deleted all my previous content without even asking me.
    When i contacted them they told me that it might take several months to retrieve my content because there many people on the line. And now after 3 months they just ignore my e-mail.
    i guess they still think thatafter deleting my 2 years old blog and other content i'll still be a loyal yahoo user and trust them.

    ReplyDelete
  47. AnonymousFebruary 16, 2012 at 2:48 AM

    Glad to see that I am not the only person who hates this new "service." I tried everything to view comments I left on news articles. I even downloaded worthless Yahoo Messenger. No such luck. WTF is their problem? How do you roll out a product that completely sucks with no tutorial or other documentation on how to perform routine tasks. Massive FAIL.

    ReplyDelete
  48. AnonymousFebruary 22, 2012 at 9:52 AM

    I hate that I can't delete things like I would've been able to do so easily before. I'm switching to Gmail as soon as I save and transfer things from my Yahoo. Yahoo just sucks so bad now!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. UnknownFebruary 22, 2012 at 10:40 AM

      It is sad what is happening to Yahoo! now. Be sure to check out the new user guide for Gmail.

      Delete
  49. AnonymousMarch 18, 2012 at 4:47 AM

    There is no way of viewing your comments anymore. Give up people, I've been checking back for months now to see if anybody has figured out a way to do so, or to see if Yahoo has answered this question directly instead of beating around the bush talking about privacy settings and activity sharing, they have not. This was literally the only reason I used Yahoo.

    ReplyDelete
  50. AnonymousMarch 18, 2012 at 5:58 AM

    This new Yahoo is so fucked up how hard is it to understand if something isnt broke dont fix it. pull your head out of you ass.

    ReplyDelete
  51. AnonymousApril 3, 2012 at 2:21 AM

    My new Yahoo profile reveals my secondary email address to the world. OK that seems fine for Yahoo chat and places I want to be more private.

    But it reveals my entire birthdate under my primary email address, supposedly only visible to me, marked 'private'--

    trouble is; I do not WANT my whole real Date of Birth anywhere on the internet if I can avoid it, because that is a setup for ID theft by outsiders-- and

    trouble is; I cannot get in there to wipe my DOB! IT WON'T LET ME EDIT-- WTF is *that*?

    I have avoided signing up for the full meal deal 'Profile' so far, but it looks like it took off without my permissions!!

    I still keep avoiding New Profile signup at the login page by immediately clicking the Yahoo icon on my Bookmarks toolbar. That takes me to the sidebar menu of Yahoo services and I click 'Mail' which brings me to a login site that does not insist on Yahoo profile signup and make it so you have just about no choice!!

    From all the bad review I read here one after another, I am going to avoid switching to a new profile as long as I can; This whole thing sounds very fishy to me!

    ReplyDelete
  52. AnonymousMay 15, 2012 at 11:15 AM

    I miss Pulse, so much...

    At least Yahoo Japan still kicks ass.

    ReplyDelete
  53. AnonymousJune 4, 2012 at 6:33 PM

    A lot of valuable pictures of mine was uploaded on my Pulse, and I ended up losing those pictures when I broke my laptop, but later remembered I had them on Pulse! But when I went onto it, it had become this lame "Profile" thing which is completely useless! Is there any way to get my pictures back? Please either respond or email me @ ofmiceandelizabeth@yahoo.com i'm desperate!

    ReplyDelete
  54. Chad WallsAugust 16, 2012 at 6:46 PM

    Thanks Dain! I am reading a book on social media and Yahoo! Pulse was mentioned. Your post provides a good overview of the new Yahoo! Profile.

    ReplyDelete
  55. AnonymousJanuary 2, 2013 at 1:49 AM

    Yahoo profiles are completely useless. The only reason that I have not closed my account is the fact that I use my Yahoo URL as an address for several web-pages where I have registered. As well, the Yahoo home-page is a mine-field of commercials attached to any news item that might be interesting and their "cartoon" avatars could only appeal to a juvenile. Posting comments is equally unsatisfying when there is no way to respond to those who have posted a reply to comments. Yahoo Groups is another out-dated and tiring template to use and Yahoo's Mission Statement is just inflated bluster from some marketing dreamer who simply can't comprehend the whole-mess from a user's perspective. Have a nice day - somewhere other than Yahoo!

    ReplyDelete

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