As a 70’s kid, I still remember having the best childhood. Not only did I see the introduction of various online services but I also was part of one of the most popular chat rooms of that time- yahoo chat. We used to have endless hours of fun talking to people from all around the world and also had access to public and private chat rooms. This is one of the services that I miss today, but I do not have any regrets cuz I did have a lot of fun while it lasted.
Evolution of yahoo chat
Launched in 1997, the chat room feature became accessible to the public ad was also one of the features Yahoo! Pager announced. Those who belonged to the 90’s era will not deny that this was one of the most popular chat rooms in the 1990s. People used to befriend others from various parts of the world.
It was then renamed Yahoo Messenger in 1999 however the company ultimately shut it down in 2012. The decision to shut down yahoo chat disturbed the users as it was one of the most popular chat features online. The company decided to take down the service so that they could promote the other products of the brand. This move was also one of the strategies that the company had used to grow even more.
Yahoo Messenger and its popularity
While in 2015, yahoo chat came to an end, it was the beginning of a new era for a new release called Yahoo! Messenger. As a replacement for the older version, the messenger service offered service was on par with other messaging apps. Users could send various types of documents, emoticons, images, gifs, free text messages, and so forth.
Over the years, Messenger underwent various changes that included group chats and other such features. As time went by, Messenger even started offering other services like in-chat YouTube streaming, Flickr support, video calling, voicemail, Yahoo! 360 integration, VoIP, and much more.
Discontinuing Yahoo Chat Room
Yahoo Messenger AKA yahoo chat was finally shut down on July 17, 2018. The company then launched Yahoo Together which was supposed to be a partial replacement for Messenger. However, even that was shut down by April 4, 2019. Presently, Yahoo does not offer any chat room feature for its users.
The company has been known to shut down some of its many features and services. The company is known to strategize and re-strategize its methodologies for its overall growth. Before taking any decision, the company does consider various factors like money loss, emerging competing services, user retention, churn, and so forth.
When Yahoo ended its chat service, it released an official statement that the company decided to shut the services down to avert resources and time to other tools and services that they had to offer.
What are the alternatives to yahoo chat?
Although yahoo chat may no longer be in service, you do have other alternatives like Whatsapp, Skype, Facebook Messenger, and so forth. These popular chat messaging service providers may not work on similar grounds to Yahoo Messanger, but they do offer basic services like making a video or audio calls, sending videos, images, or text messages, and so on.
