Yahoo 360° to close in July

Yahoo is telling users of the Yahoo 360° service to move their blog entries and photographs before the service is shut on 13 July.

Yahoo 360° launched in March 2005 and offered members social-networking, photo-sharing and blogging services.

It was initially invitation-only but was made available to anyone over the age of 18 with a Yahoo account in June 2005.

Yahoo explained that it wanted to let all members have the same facilities available on their profile pages when they logged in to Yahoo rather than having to go to the Yahoo 360° site.

"On 13 July, 2009, we will officially close Yahoo 360° to focus our efforts on making your new profile on Yahoo the place where you connect with the people who matter to you most," a statement on the Yahoo 360 site reads.

Yahoo has created a blog migration page to help members move their blog to their Yahoo profile or an alternative blog-hosting service such as Blogger.

Yahoo said it recognised that the decision to can Yahoo 360° would not please everyone but that it wanted to give members plenty of time to move their photos and blog entries.

"We know many of you are frustrated by this decision. We’re listening, and we are going to do our best to make sure your interests are incorporated into future releases and versions of your profile," said Melissa Daniels on the Yahoo! 360° blog.