March 17 – Yahoo! recently launched a new service on February 25, “Yahoo! Buzz,” attempting to wedge itself into the website aggregation field. Buzz provides a running list of the most popular websites every hour, as well as maintaining an archive of popular searches. This service certainly qualifies as a copycat to Digg, Del.icio.us, and Stumbleupon. Though too many copycats may supersaturate a market and turn off eager users, this service is exactly what Yahoo! needs to sustain itself in the Web 2.0 world. Most importantly, this represents Yahoo!’s potential for independent innovation — an improvement over the simple ability to acquire existing successful companies, such as Flickr.
Yahoo! Buzz stands apart from other aggregation websites through an innovative source of information: user-based sharing and popular Internet searches from Yahoo.com. Digg and Delicious, for example, require the user to either install an application or affirmatively report interesting information from the Web. Buzz, in addition to user-based sharing, harnesses Yahoo!’s existing market power to report popular searches as newsworthy websites. Users may “Buzz Up” (thumbs up) or “Buzz Down” (thumbs down) each top story to manipulate its popularity. This second avenue of information gathering gives Yahoo! a unique edge in aggregating popular websites.
Buzz is also physical appealing with a brightly colored, engaging user interface. Most importantly, the site does not overwhelm the senses nor over-complicate the user’s experience. The site’s main focus is a headline box using rotating pictures that represent recent headlines. Large, demonstrative icons clearly illustrate the site’s basic services. The search bars are not overbearing but allow the user to explore beyond the Homepage. The Buzz logo also is simple, consistent with the “Y!” icon, yet modern in the font style, color, and size. When the cursor passes over certain entries or menus, colors change and new menu options appear; this feature makes the experience more interactive than a simple point and click.
Yahoo!’s efforts demonstrate the company’s potential to reinvent its traditional business model and create innovative services. It looks back while looking forward. Older online companies do not have to completely abandon old ways to compete with newer, younger, and fresher concepts on the Internet. Buzz accomplishes this, all the while using familiar roots of Internet searches to power the company’s evolution. It speaks to Yahoo!’s willingness to shift gears, which other 1990’s companies seem hesitant to follow suit.
This is not to say that aggregating websites cannot or do not harness the power of user-based sharing and popular searches. The more important point is Yahoo!’s willingness to recognize that the old search engine model is out. Complacency inevitably leads to downfall.
Posted by thechritic 
