Earlier this month both AOL and Yahoo redesigned their home pages to include more links to outside services. The new AOL homepage features prominent links to Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo Mail, as well as to bookmarks leading elsewhere, and integration with Facebook and MySpace. Yahoo’s new home page, which it is still bucket testing selectively, also includes more directlinkstoother e-mail providers, social networks, and a new left-hand channel strip that can be modeified by suers to include links to their favorite Web services. For YAhoo, it is part of its strategy to become the preimier starting point on the Web, no matter where people wan to go. But in an era when the destination site is quickly dying, if not already dead (with information pushed and personalized to you via services like Facebook, FriendFeed, and Twitter), will these redesigns be enough?
In a note today, Wall Street analyst Douglas Anmuth (formerly of Lehman Brothers, now of Barclays Capital) is not so sure. He writes:
- Fundamentally, we believe these actions are necessary steps, but we question if they will make the portals more relevant in the context of a constantly fragmenting Web, and we certainly do not expect them to have an immediate impact on financials.
- We believe embracing openness principals by Yahoo! and AOL are the right steps strategically, but the key is whether both properties can improve their monetization of traffic given the current challenging display ad market.
Given that AOL and Yahoo are seriously exploring a combination, at least they are on the same page strategically. But it kind of makes you wonder how much difference the more open strategies pursued by both portals will make. Especially in this market.
This post is to spelling and grammar as MTV is to camera work.
New Site For College Students: http://www.inkampus.com
Hooked on phonics worked well for Erick. lol
Remember, the masses still need certain sites. Not everyone knows what an RSS feed is, let alone a widget. Does your plumber or electrician use Facebook when they get online? How about your doctor? They may check it out from time to time but a lot of the non-tech folks have a need for an easy to use starting point rich with content.
Will it be enough? No
Why not? Yahoo has done almost zero improvement on their products the last five years. Yahoo! Answers was the standout.
Remember this post from yesterday?
http://www.tech...reigns-supreme/
That can be applied to Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Search, and maybe soon Yahoo Groups
AOL and YAHOO! are definitely still relevant, and they should be, because Google needs some competition to keep it in check.
Google is already eating the portals’ lunch. I am waiting for iChrome that will creat portals on demand and by recursive learning from users actions. Portals will be the print magazines of tomorrow…. still used by the elderly and interactive disabled, still kind of relevant and *nice* to have but no longer the cash cow.
The very action of using Google ads makes Yahoo seem second rate. They can do whatever they want but they still feel second fiddle. People in general like using the best of the best and Yahoo is not it.
“Yahoo is not it” – I think the 515 million people that use Yahoo every month would disagree with you. But then again, you probably use Google as your start page.
That is ok, I don’t mind people disagreeing with me. I use gmail in fact if I had a true homepage. Most times I just have a group of websites which I go to. I am not much for a widget feeding me in all the information into one place when it comes to content. I enjoy multiple websites like I enjoy multiple woman, well in my dreams:)
This doesn’t change the fact Yahoo seems second rate. Working with Google just seems wrong to me, like the Yankees and Red Sox working together. Would you view the Yankees the same way if they went to the Red Sox for money?
I guess I just like the whole Yahoo vs Google thing. I like it when two companies or products compete against each other.
At some point people are going to realize the format by which we advertise is not effective. Ads at some point were meant to be useful. To help users find good services or cheap products. Now too often an ad is a wasted click. Instead of getting a nice looking useful website users too often are taken to a spammy website or the ads themselves are spammy. Just go to si.com and see the circuit city ads. It baffles me how it can be effective to annoy people into buying products.
Sadly this has become the norm online and it hurts the industry when you consider the market with the most money is the older demographic. The group of people who wouldn’t know how to block popups and would lose trust in doing things online after getting scammed just once. The group of people with the most traditional social networks.
We need Yahoo to be better so they can challenge Google and hopefully evolve advertising into something more meaningful.
remember those AOL biscs that used to spam your mailbox?
those were the good ‘ol days…
AOL + YAHOO = Dead Pool
MSN + AOL + YAHOO = Dead Pool
The fact is the web is evolving and as such they will soon no longer be relevant. Sell while you can AOL. Let the fool and is money part company
If AOL + YAHOO = Web2.0, then they would become relevant. However they are milking it for every dollar before then flip the switch to Web2.0 and pretend as if they did not know what had to be done.
Facebook new design + home page = Dead pool
Within 2 years Facebook is a has been.
What is wrong man? Chronic, annoying constipation???
Nothing is wrong man. Just look closer at your monitor and you will see what is wrong.
You are clueless!!! These companies are successful, making real money, in the millions, each day!!! –What do you make? $0.02/hour?? [most probably... life is not fair.]
It is wierd but some people develop a deep hatred of Facebook that reminds me how we look at our ex-girlfriends new boyfriend. It is a jealous rage almost. A friend of mine feel the same way.
I just laugh at him because Facebook must be doing something right to have 80 million users.
Thanks dude. No give yourself a clap
Thanks dude. No give yourself a big hand of applause and clap
Jack Shiit. It is now how much we make hear, it is talking shiit about the market and how we see it evolving. Hence opinions. I guess you prove you really do not know Jack Shiit
There is no hatred for facebook because one sees it differently. It could be Mysapce or Hi5 same shiit.
holy crap…. now I am good at ignoring spelling errors and grammatical mistakes on blogs and such because its based off of who can get what out first and worry about mechanics later but DAMN
Your suckin it lol
“You’re suckin’ it. LOL”.
Yahoo is still struggling…lol
Both AOL & Yahoo are dead, lingering from “Web 1.0″. Google is king
http://gatesand...s.blogspot.com/
Audience and content fragmentation is the way of the world. Portals as we know it are dead –but display advertising isnt.
Look for winners in vertical space and beyond to capture these $$$/advertisers…and quickly with fast technology deployment and unique targeting solutions!
1. It will be a while before facebook, twitter and friendfeed replace a good start page….these feed sites were interesting for a while….After about 10 minutes I grew tired of hearing that joe bloggs has been tagged in a photo or that john smith is pondering his status or that some idiot thro’ an elephant at me… (The fact that facebook et al are battling to monetize are a clear indication that their value to users and / or advertisers is unclear).
2. The real competion for these “new” start pages I think probably comes from igoogle, user’s web mail accounts, or user’s favorite search engines.
3. If Yahoo and AOL want us to use their start pages they have to give a us reason to change…they have to give something really special…the ability to link to my gmail account from a page festooned with a giant ad is not special enough.
4. They should consider focusing on new and emerging markets (3rd world, mobile, etc) which are going to be huge in the years to come and just write-off competing on the “old-fashioned” web.
LOL.Someone M$ should just loan facebook the money to buy AOL’s web properties and take ad.com.
AOL is obviously just as walled, beloved, and ‘useful’ as facebook. AOL has some good tech but the AOL brand is yanking them to the ground (while their users slowly take residence there). So,Facebook absorbs the AOL brand and has some lay offs.
M$ makes themselves the largest player in online advertising by volume (users, not $).
Startpage sites like NetVibes, PageFlakes and iGoogle have offered these features for some time. However, I do not think the startpage is the most valuable real estate on a users computer. Rather your email inbox is the most commonly used and therefore most valuable platform. Not enough startups realize that email is still the most commonly used application of the Internet.
NutshellMail has merged this concept and that of email account aggregation by offering a free service that sends recurring email Updates to any designated email address on a user defined schedule. http://nutshellmail.com
AOL + YAHOO = TRA D ITION = Tradition.
I found the new home page yesterday, I don’t see any huge breakthrough though.