Why do Yahoo Profiles no longer work?

[roger.agness]

Yahoo Profiles used to be a very valuable means of social networking, you could learn a lot about a person and their interests. Today they are totally non-functional, and have been that way (in the U.S.) for at least a year or so.

Also, Yahoo 360 was excellent, but it was killed off also. Why?
Has Yahoo killed off Profiles totally, or will they make them functional again some day? Is there a replacement for Profiles?

[Kee]

Yes, the first incarnation of the Yahoo! Profile included social-networking features. There have been a few transitions since Yahoo! 360 though. Yahoo! 360 transitioned to the Yahoo! Profiles service in 2009. Then, Yahoo! Profiles transitioned to the Yahoo! Pulse service in 2010. Then, as of Dec. 1, 2011, Yahoo! Pulse transitioned to the Yahoo! Profile service.

This Yahoo! Profile is just a profile -- there are no interactive features and minimal personalization possible. Yahoo! Profiles (1st version) was killed off. The Yahoo! Profile service is what I just described and exists. There hasn't been any announcement regarding changing the current Yahoo! Profile service (i.e. adding further functionality).

As for why Yahoo! 360 closed...
Competition, bugs, and centralization were the basis for Yahoo! 360 closing. Yahoo! 360's system needed to be more flexible to compete with other social networking services. It was a beta service so its continued existence was always a shaky proposition as it never moved out of the beta phase. There were a ridiculous amount of glitches with various modules, plus several security holes and concerns. Also, much of Yahoo's profits have come through advertising revenue. They've been trying to generate more ad revenue through connections with third-party developers, which was a key aspect of the Yahoo! Profiles (1st version) and other changes. Yahoo's "Open Strategy" direction is the foundation of their strategy (http://developer.yahoo.com/yos/intro/ ).

Now, Yahoo's leadership has gone through a few shake-ups (most recently, see http://ycorpblog.com/2012/02/16/from-like-to-love/ for details.