Jumpcut is a video-editing site that’s still available in a limited form.  A post on the site even states, "We will be keeping the Jumpcut site up and running for the foreseeable future so you’ll still be able to play, remix and share your existing movies."  But it continues, "[Y]ou just won’t be able to upload anything new," and recommends that users have a look at Flickr.

 

Yahoo acquired Jumpcut in September of 2006.  Considering that the service never made it out of beta, stopping its development seems like a reasonable move.

As for Kickstart, it’s been around since at least August of 2007, and as a would-be Facebook/LinkedIn competitor, stood an even smaller chance of success.  Now Kickstart’s homepage only shows a woman staring at a dim light bulb – perhaps about to turn it off.

On a practical level, now that Yahoo’s 1,500 employees smaller than it was a week ago, holding onto every project would be insane.  The specifics of these new cuts are a good sign that Yahoo’s correctly targeting dead ends, and hat tips go to Stuart Turton and Robin Wauters.

Over the last few years they have either created or purchased online social sites, here is a quick breakdown of some of the major start-ups and acquisitions:

————————————————————————————————
2005
————————————————————————————————

• name: flickr
• acquired
• purpose: photo sharing
• similar to: DropShots
• status: Top photo and image sharing website online. When acquired by Yahoo!, flickr was a top online property and it still is.

• name: Yahoo! 360°
• created
• purpose: Personal Pages
• similar to: Facebook, MySpace, iGoogle
• status: Still in beta, Yahoo! 360° has yet to really take off as a sharable social personal page creator. It gives users the ability to create a public profile with feeds, photos, blog, lists and more. Without Yahoo! putting more emphasis on marketing this to their users. It may be outmatched before it gets out of beta.

• name: blo.gs
• acquired
• purpose: manage online blogs and feeds

similar to: Bloglines, Technorati

• status: Not active. Blo.gs is still visible online, but the functionality is not there.

• name: del.icio.us
• acquired
• purpose: bookmark and share web-pages accessible everywhere
• similar to: StumbleUpon
• status: Active and still a force in online sharing and bookmarking of websites and web-pages.

————————————————————————————————
2006
————————————————————————————————

• name: JumpCut
• acquired
• purpose: create, upload, edit and share videos online
• similar to: YouTube
• status: Although YouTube is not designed to create and edit videos online, it has definitely become the driving force for online video viewing and sharing. Although it appears to be a quality product, Yahoo! hasn’t promoted JumpCut to be a force online.

• name: bix
• acquired
• purpose: create, enter and judge online competitions
• similar to: online, user-generated American Idol
• status: Started as an online community to upload and compete with other lip-sync and karaoke fans online, it still is an online property to spend countless hours. Not heavily marketed by Yahoo!

————————————————————————————————
2007
————————————————————————————————

• name: MyBlogLog
• acquired
• purpose: build communities around blogs
• similar to: Technorati favs
• status: MyBlogLog has developed a very strong presence in the blogosphere with it’s recent readers widget that is visible on many blogs.

• name: Y! Mash
• created
• purpose: social networking
• similar to: MySpace
• status: Although it has been available in beta since mid-September 2007, it is still in limited release (for a free invite, send me an email). It is remarkably similar to MySpace and hasn’t really been pushed or promoted by Yahoo! yet.

• name: Kickstart
• created
• purpose: social and professional networking
• similar to: Facebook, LinkedIn
• status: Rather than calling it beta, Yahoo!’s Kickstart is in a “preview” status that is accessible to everyone. Targeting college students and alums, Kickstart really hasn’t had much of one from Yahoo! yet.

————————————————————————————————
2008
————————————————————————————————
We don’t know yet!

Yahoo has invested a lot of money in the purchase, building and maintenance of these online communities listed here, but I wonder when Yahoo! plans on leveraging these online properties into a powerhouse that can rule the social Internet?

Here are a couple of questions and comments that come to mind:

• Yahoo! 360° – Why not merge My Yahoo! (also in beta) together?
• Blo.gs – What happened here? Why did Yahoo! purchase this to let it go dormant?
• JumpCut – Can’t you get the buzz out and start making a move against YouTube?
• bix – This is a perfect time to get this property buzz, psst, this is an election year and with the influence politics has online, this could be a great opportunity!
• Y! Mash – Why is this still in beta? Legal concerns with MySpace?
• Kickstart – Another opportunity as people are raising red flags over Facebook’s use (or misuse) of personal information.

What are your thoughts?

Do you think that Yahoo can maintain all of these social websites to keep them recognizable to online users?

Will Yahoo start leveraging their search presence to gain additional traffic through these social websites?

Will other Yahoo social platforms go the way of blo.gs?

Comments

They have a sound idea for creating yet another social networking site, in that it’s not as much about socializing as it is about connecting students with the people who might be able to help them into a job after college.

Yahoo calls Kickstart a preview release, their first step in building the community. “You’ll notice that, for now, the site is streamlined towards setting up profiles and basic connections and messaging,” noted the Yodel Anecdotal blog.

People can sign up with a Yahoo account, create a Kickstart profile, and connect with others on the site. Kickstart lets people identify themselves by the colleges they have attended, and the affiliations and companies that are part of their lives.

Yahoo positioned Kickstart as somewhere between options they consider “too tailored towards seasoned professionals or too geared towards staying in touch with friends.” The problem Kickstart faces is those alternatives have the members that Kickstart needs, and they may be comfortable enough not to want to join another network.

Kickstart comes to us courtesy of Yahoo, and intends to serve people who are either in college or graduated in the recent past.  Thanks to its focus on career development – Kickstart will try to put users in touch with well-placed alumni – it’s been compared to LinkedIn.

Kickstart doesn’t appear to be in a position to compete with LinkedIn, though.  One of three “featured companies” – Teach For America – has exactly zero “past and present employees” associated with Kickstart.  And even if Yahoo’s gotten 264 of its own people to sign up, less than half appear to have bothered with profile pictures.

As for the idea that Kickstart would compete with MySpace or Facebook, well . . .  Yahoo obviously has that in mind.  “Uncle Ron may work for IBM, but it doesn’t mean you want him writing on your wall or poking your friends,” states Kickstart’s homepage, in an obvious dig at Facebook.  But something that can’t keep up with LinkedIn won’t be able to touch either larger site.

Nonetheless, we’ll keep you up to date on Kickstart as it develops; there are some good ideas at work, and perhaps Yahoo will pull out a surprising success.

Yahoo Tests A Facebook/LinkedIn Contender

Of course, Facebook and LinkedIn are also trying to bridge that gap, and so are a dozen other companies; hence the “never make it out of R&D” bit.  Still, when CNET’s Harrison Hoffman got a sneak peek at Kickstart, he came away impressed.

“I personally think that Kickstart is a really solid concept and that it’s a possible game changer in the professional networking space,” wrote Hoffman.  “Hopefully we’ll see Yahoo kickstarting some careers in the near future.”

And that’s what Kickstart is designed to do.  By connecting college students to alumni within certain companies, the social network would attempt to give users a leg up in the job hunt process.  I’m not sure that it wouldn’t just result in some annoyed alumni – getting asked to vouch for strangers could grow tiresome – but it’s an interesting idea.

There’s no telling how much time and money Yahoo has put into Kickstart so far.  There’s also no word on when Kickstart will either graduate to the next stage of development or kick, instead of a person’s career, the bucket.

Challenges like this one are commonplace occurrences with businesses of all sizes. Without adequate operating capital, your ability to grow your business is limited. When this happens, you need a strategy that will either infuse your business with some quick cash or reduce your operating expenses.

Try one of these:

Hold a Sale You reduce inventory while brining in some quick cash. Offer a discount or other incentive to customers who pay now.

Ask for Payment in Advance for Recurring Services If you are offering web-hosting services, for example, offer one month free to customers who pay up front for 12 months hosting.

Lease Your Equipment Purchasing equipment ties up large sums of money. By leasing, your money is freed up to be used for other purposes. Often it is possible to lease a variety of equipment — including office equipment, computers, software, telecommunications equipment, vehicles and more.

Joint Venture with Another Business Find a business offering services or products that are compatible with your own and offer to promote each other’s business. For example, if you are selling health food products, offer to cross-promote with a business selling fitness products. You’ll both enjoy increased sales.

Obtain a Line of Credit Bank credit is usually subject to standard ratios of debt to equity, working capital and profitability.

Factor Your Accounts Receivable Sometimes known as “invoice discounting,” factoring is the selling of your invoices (accounts receivable) for cash, instead of waiting 30-60 days to be paid by your customers. Businesses of all sizes use this tool — which is available through various specialized financial institutions. The funder buys your receivables at a discount — leaving you with enhanced cash flow. Not all invoices will be appropriate for factoring. The customer must be a low credit risk, there must be evidence of the transactions (such as a signed delivery waybill) and the customer must verify that the debt is owed.

Equipment Sale Leasebacks You can use equipment that you already own to secure financing. By transferring equipment assets onto an equipment lease, you can recover up to 100% of the equipment’s value. The equipment remains in your own premises and you can continue to use it. You must own the equipment free and clear to go this route.

Ask Suppliers for Credit Or, ask them to extend your credit. Another possibility is to discuss loan or consignment shipments from your suppliers.

Stop Producing Dated and Low Profit Items Stick with your core product until sales improve.

Cut Back on Stock or Inventory Ask suppliers to buy back stock at cost. You will have to allow them an administrative fee. Order supplies or inventory on an “as needed” basis. Alternatively, you could contact other small businesses that stock the same inventory as you do and discuss the possibility of bulk purchasing.

How to Write Business Plans, Business Proposals, JV Contracts, More! No-cost ebook “Beginners Guide to Ecommerce”. Business Writing by Nightcats Multimedia Productions http://www.nightcats.com