Yahoo! has finally stepped into the shoes of Facebook, MySpace, Orkut and other similar social networking websites and has launched its own exclusive social network which is known as the Yahoo! Mash. Long ago there were rumors indicating that Yahoo! is working on a social networking website but none of the sources were valid enough to ensure that this news was really true. But I guess its time that rumors meets reality and we have Yahoo! Mash right in front of our very own eyes.

Yahoo! Mash: Social Network by Yahoo!

I came to know about the release of Yahoo Mash! through Shankar Ganesh (Codenamed: Shankee) who is a Tech Blogger and a very close friend of mine. He has a good review on Yahoo Mash! where he expresses his first views on this new social network. Currently Yahoo Mash! is in a Beta phase and an Invitation-Only service. Shankee was one of the first persons to receive an invite to join Yahoo Mash! and he was also kind enough to throw an invitation towards me.

Yahoo Mash has the same "Individual Profile" concept like other social networking websites which means that every user has his/her separate profile. The interface is cool and based 100% on ajax so that you don't have to refresh the page each time you edit something.

Yahoo! Mash Profile "Wiki" Concept

Yahoo! Mash has a got a new concept in Profile editing which is called as the "Wiki" concept (term coined by me) which enables any of your friends to edit your profile. This is kind of insecure and annoying for as far as I think but you can easily disable it through the Yahoo! Mash settings.

Custom CSS and Styling

MySpace beats social networks like FaceBook and Orkut all because of its one powerful feature i.e. Custom Styling and the good news is that Yahoo! Mash also has this feature. The feature is available in basic and advance mode so everyone can style his/her profile ranging from beginners to professional CSS Gurus.

Modules and Widgets

The modules and widgets concept which is most popularly used in FaceBook is in Yahoo! Mash too. Basically your profile is a set of modules/widgets which have been aligned to give your profile a definite shape and structure. You can reposition and readjust the modules the way you like using ajax. There is even a big Module Gallery from where you can add different modules/widgets which you would like to be displayed on your profile homepage.

If you visit my Yahoo! Mash Profile you will see that I have a custom RSS module which shows the latest news and headlines from Sizlopedia.

Blurt, My Stuff, Tags and The Mash Pet

Blurt is a Yahoo! Mash Module which will let you add announcements to your Profile page. The My Stuff module is a very good and handy module that will allow you to interact with your friends. You paste HTML snippets there which includes Flash Games, YouTube videos and other miscellaneous interactive content. Tags module is used to tag your profile with the most relevant keywords and The Mash Pet is a funny new way to express your mood to others who visit your profile.

GuestBook

They call it "Scrapbook" in Orkut and "The Wall" in FaceBook. The GuestBook is a very nice feature that will enable users to leave small text messages on your profile enabling them to interact with you and vice versa.

Yahoo! Mash Blog

Keep an eye on the official Yahoo! Mash Blog which will enlist the updates and will inform you about the latest feature and system updates.

Get a Free Yahoo! Mash Invitation

I would be surprised if you tell me you are not already impressed by the superb features of Yahoo! Mash so why not give it a try. You have two choices to get yourself a Yahoo! Mash Invitation i.e. politely ask me for an invitation using the comment form or wait in queue at InviteShare till someone sends you an invite.

Once you are up on Yahoo! Mash don't forget to send your friends an Invitation to Yahoo! Mash.

My Yahoo! Mash

For a live preview of what Yahoo! Mash is and how it works just take a look at my Yahoo! Mash Profile at

http://mash.yahoo.com/saadhamidghouri

I will be working on some new and cool Yahoo! Mash styles. Just subscribe to Sizlopedia to keep a tab on all updates and new technology news.