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Using its vast knowledge of how people use the Internet, Yahoo Inc. knows what's hot. Now the online giant is trying to capitalize on that knowledge by building websites dedicated to the 100 hottest entertainment brands... "We'd like to work with brand owners... But we don't necessarily need the brand owners to do this."
[edited by: martinibuster at 10:05 am (utc) on Jan. 31, 2007]
[edit reason] Fixed URL and Quote. [/edit]
This is very old Internet marketing theory which was greatly discounted after Enron tried to create a trading platform in energy with the idea that the info on trends alone, even if the data were open to everyone, would provide them with great power in the market.
Turned out, having the data was one thing, understanding what it said was another. Market trends are not as predictable as though, especially in the short term. I've seen this in the commodity markets for years.
But, in the longer term, I think the user data does begin to become useful if carefully and thoughtfully applied. A good question to ask when you learn that information on using green widgets is in demand right now: So what? Knowing about a hot trend and turning it into profitable business isn't as easy as you might think.
Yahoo is on to something here and their management has some experience in this kind of marketing. Google has been and remains a "play it as it comes," while Yahoo is has attempted to be more proactive with the web. Can Yahoo become the experts on providing what is wanted and needed on the web? Well, someone is going to be top dog in that field.
[edited by: Brett_Tabke at 5:03 pm (utc) on Jan. 31, 2007]
Sounds like Yahoo is really trying to go with the whole 'content created by our users' angle.
Which I have always felt was an excuse for Yahoo. Their creative staff simply can't get the job done, so outsource it free...to you and me.
Anyway, this doesn't sound too exciting, just another way for Yahoo to publish general information and emblazen ads all over it. Kinda sounds like a MFA site.
1) Games.yahoo.com (what i see as #1 in yahoo search, above the organic results)
2) news.yahoo.com (several links from there)
3) wii.yahoo.com (i don't see it, but it makes sense to add it to their shortcuts feature)
4) shopping.yahoo.com (they should be there, too)
5) flickr (photos, anyone?)
6) dir.yahoo.com (directory listings...if they want to help people find stuff on the wii)
7) tech.yahoo.com (lloyd braun's big push...they have a page for wii too).
Am I missing any? The long & short of this strategy seems to be the corporate arm of Yahoo missing out on what the business units within Yahoo need / are doing, etc. The disconnnect between the two of them has only gotten bigger, from what I've seen, in the year since I left...and even when I was there a few years ago, you couldn't convince people to just do the right thing. How many consumers know that there are 8 different yahoo products, all with a fabulous Wii experience?
Not many...and instead of helping people that *use* Yahoo, I think this will only drive more confusion.
