I have been using Yahoo 360 for over a year now and in that time I've done 66 posts not including this one. I have to mention 66 because it's kind of like my lucky number even though I loathe superstition. This is a small number compared to many 360 users on here but for me it's personal achievement to have managed 66.
It's fantastic to have this service for free. I have enjoyed posting in 360 and I've met some really interesting people online. It's provided me with an opportunity to learn much more about other peoples' lives and also to learn about so many different facets of life through the reading of many posts on other peoples' 360 blogs.
Of all the blog sites that are available I have found 360 to be the easiest to use and understand. I like the fact that you can assign a list of friends thus creating an online community. Blogger, Google's blog site, doesn't offer that feature so it's difficult to advertise yourself on Blogger. It might be that I'm not aware of mechanisms which would allow me to do that.
I hope Yahoo will continue to support 360 for a long time to come and I hope they can continually make it accessible to many people and make improvements thus allowing it to evolve into a very useful and dynamic blogging site.
I am also a Yahoo Beta email user having held a yahoo email address for several years. A few months back Yahoo made superb improvements to their Yahoo email service. The web based Yahoo Beta interface has really suited my needs well. I prefer to keep my email 'post-box' web based and I don't bother using email software such as Outlook or Lotus Notes anymore. The unlimited size of the Yahoo mailbox is a big plus. The spam filter works very well. Yahoo provides free anti-virus protection on all emails and attachments. Ever since I stopped downloading emails to my own laptop I have suffered far less from virus attacks to the computer. I'm hoping that the Beta email interface can be used as my main hub for all my online communications. The chat feature is really good but I have found that it doesn't always work reliably and messages are failing to be received or transmitted. Sometimes that happens in Yahoo Messenger as well.
Yahoo Flickr is another service which generally I like very much. There are some annoying aspects to it and it also seems quite complicated to use for organising photos. I have Flickr pro free until the end of November. I now have well over 1000 photos uploaded to Flickr and I intend to use Flickr as one of my main storage bases for all my personal photos. I also keep a back-up of all my photos on USB memory sticks. I don't trust CDs or computer hardrives as a permanent place for storing electronic photos.
Here are five ideas on what I'd like to see improved about Yahoo's services and Yahoo's 360.
1. A closer integration between the Yahoo Beta email and Yahoo 360 Beta.
By that I mean I'd like to have an easy one-click link straight to my 360 page from the email interface. I'd like a dropdown menu on the email interface for a variety of the 360 features. In a way I'd prefer it to the Notepad feature. Perhaps a Yahoo 360 folder could be incorporated that would open a tab in the email interface for editing a post.
2. A blog posting facility directly from my Yahoo email.
I would like to write my posts directly from my email. This is one really useful feature that Google's Blogger has which 360 doesn't have. Furthermore, I would like to see it work in a "WYSIWYG" mode with a simple 'switch-over' click to HTML view.
3. An improved mechanism for posting images (possibly also for videos and slideshows etc).
Especially images from Flickr. I haven't yet found a way to easily post images. The method I use is slow and very clumsy. I have to open Flickr, log in, find the photo I want, open it up, click on 'all sizes', select the size I want, 'grab' the URL link by copying and pasting it into the 360 editor in HTML source mode. And sometimes I find that tricky because I'm no expert on HTML and it's often difficult to read and find the location in the HTML text to paste the URL. The solution is to make some software that allows photos to be posted easily and quickly into the 360 post editor.
4. Incorporate an auto-save feature.
In editing mode, while writing up a post, there should be an auto-save feature. Again this is a feature that Blogger has that 360 doesn't have. I don't know how many times I've written a blog and then clicked on 'Post this Entry' and lost all the work! Of course these days I'm more careful. I always copy the text first in case that happens then I can re-paste the work. An auto-save feature would be much better though.
5. Facility to make individual posts private, friends only, selected-group of friends, or public.
At the moment we can only make the whole 360 blog do this. I would like to be able to write individual posts that only my friends can see, or even only a particular selection of family and friends to see, or to make completely private, or to make public.
I hope the operators of Yahoo will somehow pick up on these ideas.
One more thing that completely astounds me, is that on Yahoo.com homepage there is absolutely no mention of Yahoo 360! The main menu on the lefthand side doesn't show 360 as a link! You have to click on the "More Yahoo! Services" link before finding the link for 360. In fact it seems that Yahoo! doesn't so obviously advertise it's blogging service very well at all.
What are your ideas for improving Yahoo 360?
I have a feeling that 360 won't be around for much longer once Yahoo Mash gets up and running. It's a pity because 360 is light years ahead of MySpace and Facebook as far as I'm concerned.
I'm also none too impressed by Flickr. Yahoo Photos was far superior by the end of its run and free to use, but now we've got the less good Flickr and we have to pay for it. Gee, thanks Yahoo, I don't think.
Thanks for the tip about keeping photos on USB memory sticks. Sounds like a good idea to me.
I took a look at "Mash", and I wasn't impressed. It's would be fine for teenagers, and I think it was designed with that age group in mind.....I do wish they would just fine tune 360, correct some of the glitches, tighten up the security and then leave it be.....I love it here....
Good ideas, Phil!!
I gave Yahoo my two-cents some time ago, as being a 'feature' was actually intended to give the platform a heavy workout and gain feedback. The ability to block comments to individual blogs was one of my big ones, too.
There are several Yahoo groups for 360, and they're all VERY active. I'd suggest that you post your suggestions to them, as well, and see if we can't get some action here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Y-360/ - Yahoo/360 User's Group
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/360-Bloggers-Anonymous/ -- 360 Bloggers Anonymous
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/360-Friends/ -- 360 Friends
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/360-Forum/ -- 360 Forum (tips and help)
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/360_made_easy/ -- 360 Made Easy (tips and help)
http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-Kk7QoHEierBqvRXolmQH?p=1#comments -- "Keep 360" Petition
http://blog.mash.yahoo.com/ -- 360 "Mash" Blog (comments welcome)
http://suggestions.yahoo.com/?prop=mash -- Yahoo "Mash" suggestion board
http://360.yahoo.com/profile-1qCkw2Ehaak.hdNZkEAzDrpa4Q--?cq=1 -- Official Y/360 Team Blog
Phil - these are ALL good sites - you might post these in a separate post for your readers to use -- when you do, let me know; I'll create a 'blast' to do a little promotion here.
Thanks for a great and informative post!
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