Yahoo Groups
| File:Yahoo! logo.svg Yahoo! logo | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Internet services |
| Predecessor | eGroups.com, Yahoo! Clubs |
| Founded | 2001 |
| Defunct | December 15, 2020 |
| Fate | Discontinued |
| Parent | Yahoo! |
Yahoo! Groups was a no-cost electronic mailing list platform provided by Yahoo!.
Prior to February 2020, it ranked among the most extensive collections of online discussion boards, allowing users to join groups, engage in conversations, share images, files, bookmarks, utilize group calendars, conduct polls, and receive email alerts. The nature of groups ranged from announcement-only boards managed by moderators to open or invitation-based discussion communities.
On February 1, 2020, Yahoo! disabled web access to discussions and most functionalities, retaining only fundamental membership controls and transforming all groups into simple mailing lists. Subsequently, on October 13, 2020, Yahoo! declared a full discontinuation scheduled for December 15, 2020.
History
Yahoo! Groups debuted in early 2001 by merging technology from eGroups.com, which Yahoo had acquired in August 2000, with community groups originating from Yahoo! Clubs launched in 1998. In 2001, adult-themed groups were removed from Yahoo!'s directory to restrict exposure to such content. The Groups Updates Email feature was introduced in 2010 to provide users with daily summaries of group activities.
A major interface overhaul occurred in September 2010, bringing Yahoo! Groups’ design closer to that of Facebook. In December 2013, Yahoo! Groups Japan announced its closure effective May 2014.
In October 2019, Yahoo! announced that all posted content would be erased by January 31, 2020 (initially set for December 14, 2019), and new postings were disabled starting October 28, 2019. After content deletion, users could only view group listings, request invitations, and communicate with other members if part of the group.
The definitive shutdown was scheduled for December 15, 2020; the platform was closed shortly after and redirected visitors to Yahoo!'s homepage by early 2021.
Criticism and controversy
On August 31, 2010, Yahoo! Groups launched a significant software update that received widespread user disapproval. Due to the negative response, this redesign was completely reversed by January 12, 2011.
Site statistics
In August 2008, Yahoo! Groups reported having 113 million users and nine million groups operating in 22 languages. By July 2010, Quantcast recorded around 915,000 unique daily visitors from the US on the Yahoo! Groups website; this number increased slightly to approximately 933,000 by January 2011 (excluding email-based access). In September 2010 at the "Product Runway" event, Yahoo! announced figures of 115 million members and ten million groups.
See also
- Google Groups
- GroupSpaces (closed)
- Meetup.com
- MSN Groups (closed)
- Usenet
- Windows Live Groups (closed)