Yahoo's (YHOO) entry into the college student social networking market is Kickstart, developed to serve college students, recent grads and job recruiters.
This differs from their recent foray into the space with Mash, which focuses on the general socializing aspect of online life. The purpose of this effort is networking to advance a career.
Scott Gatz, senior director of Yahoo's Advanced Products division, says, "It's a professional network with a purpose--to help college students and recent graduates build a professional network."
Gatz added that it differentiates from Facebook in that it is tied to developing your career and not on simply goofing around. He also said the college crowd doesn't think of LinkedIn when thinking about making business contacts.
As their about page says, "Yahoo! Kickstart is a professional network with a distinct purpose: to connect college students, recent grads, professionals and alumni to discover internships and jobs, or get career advice and mentorship."
If this takes off it could be a good career networking tool, but for Yahoo it shows they're out there trying things to see what will stick.
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