Delicious, the social bookmarking site set up in 2003 by Joshua Schachter is being shut down, according to news leaked out last Thursday. Delicious is under performing, hence the closure. It is not alone, Yahoo Buzz, AltaVista and MyBlogLog will also be closed.
Delicious has released a statement on their blog apologising to people about the stories.
“While we can’t answer each of your questions individually, we wanted to address what we can at this stage and we promise to keep you posted as future plans get finalized.”
Delicious also tried to assure their customers by answering the most common questions people have raised.
“Is Delicious being shut down? And should I be worried about my data?
– No, we are not shutting down Delicious. While we have determined that there is not a strategic fit at Yahoo!, we believe there is a ideal home for Delicious outside of the company where it can be resourced to the level where it can be competitive.
What is Yahoo! going to do with Delicious?
– We’re actively thinking about the future of Delicious and we believe there is a home outside the company that would make more sense for the service and our users. We’re in the process of exploring a variety of options and talking to companies right now. And we’ll share our plans with you as soon as we can.
What if I want to get my bookmarks out of Delicious right away?
– As noted above, there’s no reason to panic. We are maintaining Delicious and encourage you to keep using it. That said, we have export options if you so choose. Additionally, many services provide the ability to import Delicious links and tags.
We can only imagine how upsetting the news coverage over the past 24 hours has been to many of you. Speaking for our team, we were very disappointed by the way that this appeared in the press. We’ll let you know more as things develop.”
I am sure what will happen, but one thing is for certain, the search and social landscape is a constantly changing field where we all have to make sure we keep on top of what is a happening in the market place.
Hmm interesting had not known about that! Its amazing to think how the internet is contantly changing and big companies like delicious are not immune to these changes!
We all need to constanly change and develop, I myself have been a blogger for some time now and like to consider myself as quite savvy when it comes to the internet and SEO but in reality I am learning new things every single day!
Thanks for this post Jo and Seasons Greetings
-Phillip
Thanks Phillip for your comment. I am hosting a search meetup on Monday 17th of January if you are around in London, come and check it out.