An Open Approach to Search
If you didn't realize it, Yahoo! is embracing openness like never before: — Hadoop Now at the Heart of Every Yahoo! Search — Yahoo!'s Quest to Open Up — The open theme continues today as we are announcing that we are opening up Yahoo! Search itself.
Context & Ripple Effects
Yahoo had already tested an outward-facing product strategy by opening its homepage to outside sources in 2007. Extending that posture to search moves the initiative from a presentation surface into a core Yahoo service.
Yahoo also identifies Hadoop as central to its search infrastructure, making the openness push an operating-model choice rather than only a homepage-content experiment.
First-order effects
- Yahoo makes its search service an open surface, broadening the set of outside participants that can engage with a product previously controlled primarily within Yahoo.
- Yahoo’s search organization must align its open-service effort with the Hadoop-based infrastructure it says sits at the core of search.
Second-order effects
- Yahoo’s earlier homepage openness gains a search-layer counterpart, increasing the value of coordinating outside-source participation across Yahoo’s consumer surfaces.
- Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Yahoo raises the strategic importance of Yahoo demonstrating that it can set the direction of its own search product.
Third-order effects
- If Yahoo continues moving openness from homepage distribution into search infrastructure and services, search competition shifts partly toward who can attract and govern external contributions around a core index and platform.
The trend: Yahoo is pursuing a broader shift from closed, company-controlled web destinations toward open distribution and participation around its core services.