Yahoo gives a taste of its ‘open’ overhaul
SUNNYVALE, Calif.—Yahoo showed its vision for what its Yahoo Open Strategy makes possible, demonstrating how it hopes to engage users more by enabling its existing sites to grow beyond their current confines. — Ash Patel, head …
Context & Ripple Effects
Yahoo had been laying the groundwork for a less self-contained portal: it proposed opening its home page to outside sources in 2007 and outlined an open approach to search in early 2008. The September demonstration connects those initiatives to a broader product strategy for Yahoo’s existing properties.
The strategy matters because Yahoo is treating user engagement as something its own sites can gain by connecting to services and content beyond their original boundaries, rather than solely through a redesigned destination.
First-order effects
- Yahoo’s product teams gain a common Open Strategy framework for extending existing Yahoo sites beyond their original set of features and content.
- Outside services and content providers get a clearer route to participate in Yahoo experiences as the company pursues deeper user engagement.
Second-order effects
- Yahoo’s individual properties must compete for attention as more of their value depends on the quality and usefulness of integrated external sources, not just Yahoo-built features.
- Publishers and web services seeking Yahoo distribution have an incentive to make their offerings compatible with Yahoo’s open framework, concentrating the contest around placement inside major destination sites.
Third-order effects
- If Yahoo applies the model consistently across its properties, the company shifts from operating a collection of closed destinations toward coordinating an ecosystem of third-party services and content.
- The lasting test of portal openness will be whether external participants can meaningfully reach users, rather than merely being technically permitted to connect.
The trend: Yahoo’s Open Strategy is part of the shift from closed web portals toward platforms that use outside services and content to retain users.