Social networking coming to Yahoo?
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - April 25, 2008 "We are going to rewire the entire experience at Yahoo to make
it social in every dimension," Ari Balogh, Yahoo's chief
technology officer, said Thursday at a "Web 2.0" conference that
drew a crowd of more than 1,000.
The more open platform copies a concept that already has been
embraced by Internet search leader /*Google*/ Inc. and a variety of
online social hangouts, including /*Facebook*/ Inc. and News Corp.'s
MySpace.com.
Yahoo's new look will give its roughly 500 million users greater
flexibility to customize Web pages. They will be able to pick from
a variety of mini-applications, known as "widgets," and plant
them just about anywhere on the site, including their personal
version of the front page.
Hoping to capitalize on the social networking craze, Yahoo also
is making it easier to connect with friends and family through its
Web site. For example, it will highlight messages from e-mail
users' most frequent connections let them track the activities and
opinions of online buddies.
The makeover's timing hasn't been determined, but it will happen
before the end of the year, Balogh said. It could still be derailed
if Yahoo is taken over by /*Microsoft*/ Corp., which has offered to buy
its rival for more than $44 billion in cash and stock.
Maintaining that Microsoft's bid is insufficient, Yahoo has been
implementing a long-promised turnaround strategy designed to boost
revenue growth after more than two years of financial lethargy.
Management has promised the Sunnyvale-based company's revenue will
climb more than 20 percent in 2009 and 2010.
Yahoo also announced on Thursday a three-year advertising and
content-sharing partnership with CNet Networks Inc., an online
entertainment and technology news service.
Like Yahoo, CNet is trying to snap out of a prolonged funk and
fend off an unwelcome advance. A group of dissident shareholders
led by New York investment fund Jana Partners LLC wants to
overthrow CNet's current board because of the company's struggles.
Empowering friends and family to track each other has raised
privacy concerns at Facebook, but Balogh said Yahoo will take steps
to ensure users retain control over their personal information.
This isn't Yahoo's first attempt to become a bigger player in
the Internet's social scene. The company launched a social network
called "360" in 2005, but recently closed the service down
because it never caught on. Yahoo also offered to buy Facebook for
$1 billion in 2006 only to be rebuffed.
Privately held Facebook last year sold a 1.6 percent stake to
Microsoft for $240 million.
Now Microsoft wants to buy Yahoo in an effort to chip away at
Google's huge lead in Internet search and advertising. If Yahoo's
board doesn't agree to a sale by Saturday, Microsoft has threatened
to try to replace the 10 directors in an attempt to complete the
deal.