MSN Finally Announces Closure of bCentral Directory
It was more than four months ago that I reported about what looked like the closure of the bCentral Small Business Directory. Today, MSN sent out an email to directory participants detailing what we suspected all along: It’s being retired.
But, the language in their bCentral transition FAQ is more than a bit confusing.
Effective May 18th 2006 at 3:00pm Pacific Daylight Time, the bCentral™ Small Business Directory will be retired. In its place, we are offering existing Submit It! customers and others who currently have a bCentral Small Business Directory listing a free, grandfathered listing in the new Microsoft Small Business Directory. While we will be preserving the current directory’s link friendliness and search ranking value, slight changes will be made in the way the directory appears to the public and how you may alter your listing.
That makes it sound like a new directory will be coming along to replace the bCentral SBD. But if I’m reading it correctly, “Microsoft Small Business Directory” is just a new name for this same directory, but it’ll be read-only (as it’s been since November), and perhaps most importantly, there’s no guarantee it’ll be online beyond the end of 2008.
If you read that differently, please speak up in the comments….
[tags]sbd, microsoft[/tags]
I read it the same way. The last FAQ question confirms this…
Q: What will happen to my listing on the Microsoft Small Business Directory after 2008?
A: The Microsoft Office Live Team is looking into ways Microsoft might utilize Small Business Directory assets to enhance or augment Microsoft® Office Live services. How such assets may be reinterpreted as new Microsoft Office Live offers is yet to be determined. You will be notified in advance of any changes and updates pertaining to the Microsoft Small Business Directory.