A little corner of the internet, with its the data, connections, heritage, and history, has died.
Google just switched off the Jaiku server.
And then there’s Jaiku, which is now being put out of its misery by Google on January 15 next year. I’m sure that everyone and every company has projects that they wished they had focused on with hindsight (Psion going for their Wavefinder DAB Radio instead of the crazy idea of a hand-held MP3 music player in 2000 being my favourite).
But Jaiku is probably worse than that for Google. Their recent reputation and major launches appear to be built around try to create a huge connected social network, with mobile, location, long form messages when needed, and all the other bits and pieces that were present and working in Jaiku when they bought it… and promptly closed it to new members, asset stripped the team, and left it wither.
Google, when asked by 37signals, pointed out that the knowledge from Jaiku as shared in products like Latitude, Buzz, and Google Profiles, but if you want the one that got away, not just from Google but also from the Web 2.0 world, then it’s Jaiku. There were times, back in the day, when Twitter just went down with no warning for hours, or indeed days, at a time, and Jaiku was picking up the momentum and threatening to be the Twitter alternative. Was that enough, could Google, with a different choice, had their social network years before Plus?
We’ll never know…
