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===Closure===
===Closure===
On April 23, 2009, Yahoo! announced that it would be closing GeoCities, and that it will no longer be accepting new registrations, though the existing GeoCities accounts will remain active until "later this year".<ref name="TechCrunch" /> Customers are encouraged to upgrade their accounts to the fee-based [[Yahoo! Web Hosting]] service.<ref>{{cite_web | author=Yahoo! | title=GeoCities will close later this year. | url=http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/geocities-05.html | publisher=Yahoo! Help}}</ref> In response to the closure, the rival webhosting service [[Jimdo]] started the ""Lifeboat for GeoCities" service to encourage GeoCities users to put their websites on Jimdo.<ref name="MarshallVNU"/><ref>"[http://www.jimdo.com/2009/04/23/jimdo-s-lifeboat-for-geocities Jimdo's Lifeboat for GeoCities]." ''Jimdo''. Retrieved on April 30, 2009.</ref>
On April 23, 2009, Yahoo! announced that it would be closing GeoCities, and that it will no longer be accepting new registrations, though the existing GeoCities accounts will remain active until "later this year".<ref name="TechCrunch" /> Customers are encouraged to upgrade their accounts to the fee-based [[Yahoo! Web Hosting]] service.<ref>{{cite_web | author=Yahoo! | title=GeoCities will close later this year. | url=http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/geocities/geocities-05.html | publisher=Yahoo! Help}}</ref>


Vijay Mukhi, an [[India]]n internet and cyber security expert quoted in the ''[[Business Standard]]'', criticized Yahoo's handling of GeoCities; Mukhi described GeoCities as "a lost opportunity for Yahoo! They could have made it a [[Facebook]] if they wanted." [[Rich Skrenta]], the CEO of [[Blekko]], offered to buy GeoCities from Yahoo!<ref>D'Monte, Leslie. "[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/yahoo-writes-geocities-obituary/356196/ Yahoo! writes Geocities' obituary]." ''[[Business Standard]]''. Retrieved on April 25, 2009. April 30, 2009.</ref>
Vijay Mukhi, an [[India]]n internet and cyber security expert quoted in the ''[[Business Standard]]'', criticized Yahoo's handling of GeoCities; Mukhi described GeoCities as "a lost opportunity for Yahoo! They could have made it a [[Facebook]] if they wanted." [[Rich Skrenta]], the CEO of [[Blekko]], offered to buy GeoCities from Yahoo!<ref>D'Monte, Leslie. "[http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/yahoo-writes-geocities-obituary/356196/ Yahoo! writes Geocities' obituary]." ''[[Business Standard]]''. Retrieved on April 25, 2009. April 30, 2009.</ref>

Revision as of 13:44, 1 May 2009

Yahoo! GeoCities
Type of site
Web hosting
OwnerYahoo! Inc.
Created byDavid Bohnett and John Rezner
URLgeocities.com
CommercialYes
RegistrationYes

Yahoo! GeoCities is a web hosting service founded by David Bohnett and John Rezner in late 1994 as Beverly Hills Internet (BHI).

In its original form, site users selected a "city" in which to place their web pages. The "cities" were named after real cities or regions according to their content—for example, computer-related sites were placed in "SiliconValley" and those dealing with entertainment were assigned to "Hollywood"—hence the name of the site. This feature has since been abandoned; however, a number of older sites using the original "city" system still exist.

In April 2009, Yahoo announced that it will close GeoCities later in the year. The site is no longer accepting new registrations.[1]

History

The first GeoCities logo
File:Geocitiesoriginallogo.png
The GeoCities logo of the late 1990s
The first Yahoo! GeoCities logo

GeoCities began as BHI, which stood for "Beverly Hills Internet", a small Web hosting and development company in Southern California. The company also created its own Web directory, organized thematically in six "neighborhoods." The neighborhood included "Colosseum," "Hollywood," "RodeoDrive," "SunsetStrip," "WallStreet," and "WestHollywood." In mid-1995, the company decided to offer users (thereafter known as "Homesteaders") the ability to develop free home pages within those neighborhoods. Chat, bulletin boards, and other elements of "community" were added soon after, helping foster rapid growth. On July 5, 1995 Geocities added additional cities, including "CapitolHill," "Paris," "SiliconValley," and "Tokyo."[2] By December 1995, the company, which now had a total of 14 neighborhoods, was signing up thousands of Homesteaders a day and getting over six million monthly page views. The company decided to focus on building membership and community, and on December 15, 1995, BHI became known as GeoCities after having also been called Geopages.[3] At that point GeoCities was headquartered at 9401 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills.[4] By December 1996 it was headquartered on the third floor of 1918 Main Street in Santa Monica, with an office on the 8th floor of 125 Park Avenue in Manhattan, New York City.[5]

Over time, many companies, including Yahoo!, invested extensively in GeoCities and, with the introduction of paid premium services, the site continued to grow. In May 1997, GeoCities introduced advertisements on its pages. Despite negative reaction from users, GeoCities continued to grow. By June 1997, GeoCities was the fifth most popular site on the Web, and by October of that year the company had signed up its millionth Homesteader.[citation needed]

In June 1998, in an effort to increase brand awareness, GeoCities introduced a watermark to user web pages. The watermark, much like an onscreen graphic on some television channels, was a transparent floating GIF which used JavaScript to stay on the bottom right side of the browser screen. Many users felt the watermark interfered with the design of their website and threatened to move their web pages elsewhere. The watermark also had cross-browser issues. GeoCities claimed in a press release that the company had received upbeat feedback regarding the watermark.[6]

The company went public in August 1998, listing on the NASDAQ exchange with the code GCTY. The IPO price was $17, rising rapidly after launch to a peak of over $100. However, in January 1999, near the peak of the dot-com bubble, it was purchased by Yahoo! for $3.57 billion with Yahoo! taking control on May 28.[7][8] In 1999 Geocities was the third-most visited website on the World Wide Web, behind AOL and Yahoo!.[9] By 1999 the headquarters had moved to 4499 Glencoe Avenue in Los Angeles, west of the Marina del Rey area of Los Angeles County.[10]

Yahoo!'s acquisition of GeoCities proved extremely unpopular and users soon began to leave en masse in protest at the new Terms of Service put out by Yahoo! for GeoCities.[11] The terms stated that the company owned all rights and content, including media such as pictures. Yahoo! quickly reversed its decision.[11] In July 1999, Yahoo! eliminated neighborhoods and street addresses from homesteader URLs. GeoCities never enforced neighborhood specific content, for example a "Hollywood" homesteader could be nothing but a college student's home page which would be more appropriate for another neighborhood. The neighborhoods were replaced by "vanity" URLs consisting of www.geocities.com/membername. Soon after a lawsuit was filed against Yahoo! by its volunteer group of community managers, GeoCities' volunteer program (Community Leaders) was terminated.[citation needed]

In 2001, amidst speculation by analysts that GeoCities was not yet profitable (it having declared an $8 million loss for the final quarter of 1998), Yahoo! introduced a for-fee premium hosting service at GeoCities[12] and crippled the accessibility of free and low-price hosting accounts by limiting their monthly data transfer for webpage visitors; since then the monthly data transfer limit for free accounts is 4 GB[citation needed]. Later, the paid accounts were unified in the Yahoo! Web Hosting service and currently have no data transfer limits.[citation needed]

The limiting of data transfer for free accounts made less popular the GeoCities hosting service as well as the hosted pages.[citation needed]

While GeoCities proved a popular site for newcomers to Web design in the late 1990s due to its free service, the site has gradually become obsolete with the ever-decreasing cost of hosting a personal website. Most GeoCities sites that were popular in the late 1990s are no longer active and have long since been abandoned for other options.[citation needed]

The domain geocities.com attracted at least 177 million visitors annually by 2008 according to a Compete.com study.[13]

ComScore stated that the Geocities had 18.9 million unique visitors from the U.S. in March 2006. In March 2008 Geocities had 15.1 million unique U.S. visitors. In March 2009 Geocities had 11.5 million unique visitors, a 24% decline from March 2008.[1]

Closure

On April 23, 2009, Yahoo! announced that it would be closing GeoCities, and that it will no longer be accepting new registrations, though the existing GeoCities accounts will remain active until "later this year".[1] Customers are encouraged to upgrade their accounts to the fee-based Yahoo! Web Hosting service.[14]

Vijay Mukhi, an Indian internet and cyber security expert quoted in the Business Standard, criticized Yahoo's handling of GeoCities; Mukhi described GeoCities as "a lost opportunity for Yahoo! They could have made it a Facebook if they wanted." Rich Skrenta, the CEO of Blekko, offered to buy GeoCities from Yahoo![15]

Litigation

In 1999, a complaint was instituted against GeoCities stating that the corporation violated the provisions of the Federal Trade Commission Act under 14 USC § 45, which states in relevant part, “Unfair methods of competition in or affecting commerce, and unfair or deceptive acts or practices in or affecting commerce, are hereby declared unlawful.” The FTC found that GeoCities was engaged in deceptive acts and practices in contravention to their stated privacy act. Subsequently, a consent order was entered into which prohibits GeoCities from misrepresenting the purpose for which it collects and/or uses personal identifying information from consumers. A copy of the complaint and order can be found at 127 F.T.C. 94.[16]

The litigation came about in this way: GeoCities provided free home pages and e-mail address to children and adults who provided personally identifying and demographic information when they register for the website. At the time of the complaint, GeoCities had more than 1.8 million members who were "homesteaders". GeoCities illegally permitted third-party advertisers to promote products targeted to GeoCities' 1.8 million users, by using personally identifiable information obtained in the registration process. These acts and practices affected "commerce" as defined in Section 4 of the Federal Trade Commission.[citation needed]

The problem GeoCities faced was that it placed a privacy statement on its New Member Application Form and on its website promising that it would never give personally identifying information to anyone without the user's permission. GeoCities sold personal information to third parties who used the information for purposes other than those for which members gave permission.[citation needed]

It was ordered that GeoCities would not make any misrepresentation, in any manner about its collection or use of personal identifying information, including what information will be disclosed to third parties. GeoCities was not allowed to collect personal identifying information from any child if GeoCities had actual knowledge that the child did not have his parents' permission to provide the information.[citation needed]

Neighborhoods

In 1996 GeoCities had 29 "neighborhoods," which had groupings of content created by the "homesteaders" (GeoCities users).[17] By 1999 GeoCities had additional neighborhoods and refocused existing neighborhoods.[18]

GeoCities Marketplace

In 1999 GeoCities had an online commercial presence with GeoCities Marketplace. It included the GeoStore, which sold GeoCities-branded merchandise. Users cashed in GeoPoints in the store.[19]

GeoCities Japan

Prior to the takeover by Yahoo!, GeoCities had a Japanese subsidiary, GeoCities Japan. GeoCities Japan was based on Japanese culture.[20] GeoCities Japan was headquartered in the Nihonbashi Hakozaki Building in the Nihonbashi area of Chūō, Tokyo.[21]

Japan neighborhoods

GeoCities Japan had the following neighborhoods:[22]

  • WallStreet (ウォール街, Wōrugai) - Finance and business
  • Epicurean Table (エピキュリアンテーブル, Epikyurian Tēburu) - Dining
  • Colosseum (コロシアム, Koroshiamu) - Outdoor sports and health
  • SiliconValley (シリコンバレー, Shirikon Barē) - Computers and the internet
  • SilkRoad (シルクロ-ド, Shiruku Rōdo) - Travel
  • Technopolis (テクノポリス, Tekunoporisu) - Science and high technology
  • Berkeley (バークレイ, Bākurei) - Education and student life
  • Heartland (ハートランド, Hātorando) - Family and pets
  • Hollywood (ハリウッド, Hariuddo) - Films and performing arts
  • Playtown (プレイタウン, Pureitaun) - Video games
  • Broadway (ブロードウェイ, Burōdowei) - Pop, rock music, and concerts
  • Milano (ミラノ, Mirano) - Fashion, design, and shopping
  • Milkyway (ミルキーウェイ, Mirukīwei) - Dating
  • MotorCity (モーターシティ, Mōtā Shiti) - Automobiles and motorcycles

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Rao, Leena (2009-04-23). "Yahoo Quietly Pulls The Plug On Geocities". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2009-04-30. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |work= (help)
  2. ^ "Beverly Hills Internet, builder of interactive cyber cities, launches 4 more virtual communities linked to real places; SiliconValley, CapitolHill, Paris and Tokyo offer free homesteads to residents of BHI's 'GeoCities'." Business Wire. July 5, 1995. Retrieved on April 30, 2009.
  3. ^ "Beverly Hills Internet, Builder of Web Communities, Changes Name to GeoCities; Monthly Page." Business Wire. Thursday December 14, 1995. 1. Retrieved on May 1, 2009.
  4. ^ "Beverly Hills Internet, Builder of Web Communities, Changes Name to GeoCities; Monthly Page." Business Wire. Thursday December 14, 1995. 2. Retrieved on May 1, 2009.
  5. ^ "Advertising and Sponsorship Information." GeoCities. December 19, 1996. Retrieved on April 30, 2009.
  6. ^ Hu, Jim (1998-06-28). "GeoCitizens fume over watermark". CNet.
  7. ^ "Yahoo! buys GeoCities". CNN.com. 1999-01-28.
  8. ^ Nuttall, Chris (1999-01-29). "Yahoo! moves in on GeoCities". BBC News.
  9. ^ Marshall, Rosalie. "Yahoo closing Geocities web hosting service." vnunet. April 24, 2009. Retrieved on April 30, 2009.
  10. ^ "Contact Geocities." GeoCities. Retrieved on February 22, 1999. April 30, 2009.
  11. ^ a b "Yahoo Angers GeoCities Members With Copyright Rules". nytimes.com. 1999-06-30.
  12. ^ Schiffman, Betsy (2001-08-28). "A Community That Stays Together, Pays Together". Forbes.
  13. ^ GeoCities attracts almost 180m visitors online yearly
  14. ^ Yahoo!. "GeoCities will close later this year". Yahoo! Help.
  15. ^ D'Monte, Leslie. "Yahoo! writes Geocities' obituary." Business Standard. Retrieved on April 25, 2009. April 30, 2009.
  16. ^ http://www.ftc.gov/os/decisions/docs/Volume127.pdf#page=94
  17. ^ a b c "29 Neighborhoods." GeoCities. December 19, 1996. Retrieved on April 30, 2009.
  18. ^ Visit these neighborhoods." GeoCities. February 9, 1999. Retrieved on April 30, 2009.
  19. ^ "GeoCities Marketplace." GeoCities. February 9, 1999. Retrieved on May 1, 2009.
  20. ^ "Visiting GeoCities Japan." GeoCities. February 3, 1999. Retrieved on April 30, 2009.
  21. ^ "スタッフ募集." GeoCities Japan. February 21, 1999. Retrieved on April 30, 2009.
  22. ^ "コミュニティ." GeoCities Japan. Retrieved on April 30, 2009.
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