New year, new home page Yahoo! Multiplatform and more open to collaboration and the rest of the community; a mix of new and old; the usual portal, but with the customizable functions of the MyYahoo! service. and the characteristics that have made social networks popular.
Without leaving the portal, you will know that Belén has updated her profile on Facebook, that Marta has sent her an email to Gmail, that Joan has uploaded a video to YouTube and that Elpais.com publishes an exclusive. In addition, computer developers will be able to create their own programs on the platform (API) of the Californian company to offer them to the rest of the portal users, in the form of applications, widgets and else.
Its launch is scheduled in Spain for the first quarter of 2009. A group of Internet users from India, the United States, France and the United Kingdom are already testing the new version, which also includes its redesign, but implies a change in the company's strategy. "open, social and relevant."
The goal of Yahoo! is that the Internet user enters the Internet through the portal, sees on the same page all the content, applications and services that he usually visits on the Internet and then goes wherever he wants, but always returns and makes the site his gateway. to Internet.
"Being open means having Gmail (Google) on your home page. It means taking the personalized model of MyYahoo! to a much more open and cooperative level. I don't think it will jeopardize the audience or our advertising model, because it opens up new possibilities, new markets "says Mark Dresutis, director of the Californian company's media area in Europe.
Yahoo! It continues to be the third most visited site on the Internet, behind Google and Live (Microsoft), according to the Comscore audience meter. However, it is losing steam in the succulent search sector, where it sweeps Google by a landslide (71%). If in August 2007 Yahoo! had 22,87% of the US market, a year later the figure has been reduced to 18,26%, according to Hitwise.
Hence they emphasize "innovation"
in computer searches, which continues to be the starting point for the vast majority of people in cyberspace. For example, with Search Scann, which, in collaboration with McAfee, alerts whether sites are safe, have viruses or spyware, or generate spam (spam).
With BOSS (an acronym for "build your own search service"), the company is also opening up its platform to developers to develop "the next generation of search engines," explains Jeffrey Revoy, vice president of search and social media in Europe. .
Go for the mobile market
And don't forget your mobile phone, because the future of Internet searches is in your hands. And in those of 4.000 million subscribers who by the end of the year will have a mobile phone in their pocket, according to the International Telecommunications Union.
The consulting firm Inform Telecom & Media estimates that, in the United States alone, the mobile advertising market will amount to more than 4.000 billion dollars in 2012.
Last year Yahoo! presented One Search, a search engine for mobile phones that, instead of displaying a list of links, offers results. Now they add voice to the service and those responsible assure that after a couple of seconds the subscriber will have the answer to his request - flight number of an airplane, specific address of a cinema or the Japanese restaurant closest to that cinema. written on the mobile screen.
Furthermore, One Connect will arrive in Europe in 2009. The service is now available in the United States for iPhone owners. It is a social calendar that integrates all the user's contacts in a single application. That is, the address books of your different email, telephone, instant messaging and social network accounts grouped in the same place and within reach of your thumb.