Yahoo opens up to third party content
Tiny URL: http://tinyurl.com/6bt4fw
Yahoo is changing it’s strategy in an attempt to woo users to it’s online properties. The Associated Press is reporting that the Sunnyvale-based company has been looking at allowing more content from other Web sites.
Yahoo plans to open up more with the first major redesign of its home page since May os 2006. The changes will enable Yahoo users to plant more mini-applications known as “widgets” on personalized versions of the home page, said Ash Patel, executive vice president of the company’s audience product division.
Personalized user pages are offered by Google through their iGoogle product. Other social network sites like Facebook and Myspace were designed around this idea and allow complete customization of user pages for a more personalized online experience.
The company also plans to open the Yahoo Publisher Network to extend its advertising reach so it can run ads on more third party internet properties. The Yahoo Publisher Network is a service similar to Adsense from Google. Currently YPN is not open to everyone and requires one to submit a request to Yahoo for approval. Compare and contrast that with Google’s adsense that can be setup in a matter of minutes by even a newbie. Ease of use and simplicity is one area where Google has trumped Yahoo and other companies like AOL and is on it’s way to being the no. 1 destination on the web.
Yahoo’s stock sunk to a 5 year low last month after an almost 6 month long drama between Microsoft and itself over a potential buyout. See below for a complete coverage on the events in the last 6 months
- What’s Jerry’s plan for Yahoo, stock at 5 year low
- Jerry’s sweet victory, what next for yahoo
- Icahn gets board seats with proxy fight threats over Yahoo’s handling of Microsoft’s offer
- Yahoo board rejects proposal from Icahn/Microsoft alliance
- Deja-Hoo it’s Microsoft and Yahoo talking again
- Yahoo enters into an agreement with Google to thwart Microsoft’s overtures
- Yahoo say’s its open to value maximizing transactions
- Blamer’s letter to Jerry Yang
