Bit of admin: Stowe Boyd, Umair Haque and I have set up something called Advisory Capital Network. Stowe explained what it is in his intro post:
"...a loose federation of strategists to help Web 2.0 start-ups and established players trying to move into the Web 2.0 arena.
I'll provide more details of my advisory roles in an upcoming post.
btw I'm also working on a re-brand and re-design of Read/WriteWeb. Once it's done, you'll hopefully see less personal messages like this ;-) Stay tuned for R/WW 2.0 (actually more like 4.0, but whatever...).
A few weeks ago it was revealed that Microsoft had acquired online gaming advertising platform Massive for "between $200-$400 million". Now I've discovered that a kiwi (from Wellington of course!) was one of the co-founders. According to this NZ Herald story, 31-year-old Wellingtonian Claudia Batten founded Massive Inc four years ago with two expat Australians in New York. They developed pioneering software that dynamically delivers advertising into online video games:
"Tapping into the "Lost Boys" market - hard-to-target 18- to 34-year-old males - was the key to the company's success, Batten said.
"We told advertisers: 'We've found the Lost Boys. They're playing games and we can get you in front of them'."
Speaking to the Herald on Sunday from Seattle, Batten was coy about how much she got from the sale, reported at between US$200-400 million ($643m). "It's all under wraps. I'm really pleased with the outcome, it's better left at that," she laughed."
Thanks Dave ten Have for the tip. There's a lot of software talent in Wellington - TradeMe (NZ's eBay) got bought for nearly half a billion US dollars in March and AfterMail went for US$45M in January. Must be something in the water here :-)
One more quick post for the day, before I go and watch the rugby (go Canes!). Hitwise has done a table showing relative popularity of the Google properties:
Compare this to Alexa's breakdown:
- google.com - 75%
- mail.google.com - 8%
- images.google.com - 8%
- groups.google.com - 2%
- video.google.com - 2%
- news.google.com - 1%
- froogle.google.com - 1%
- Other websites - 3%
Pretty close and shows really that Google has a lot of work to do in its 'verticals'.
Mark Fletcher in many ways embodies the successful Web startup entreprenuer, having created and sold two multi-million dollar companies - ONEList to Yahoo (via a merger with eGroups) and Bloglines to Ask Jeeves. Niall Kennedy has notes, audio and a transcript of a talk Fletcher recently did. This is pretty much required reading for budding 2.0 entrepreneurs. Here's a sample:
"Garage Philosophy
- Solve a Pain Point
- Have Passion for the Idea
- Be Cheap!!
- Release Early/Release Often (3 Month Rule) - Doesn't Have to be Perfect
- Involve Your Users"
I wonder what Fletcher will build next, he seems to have a nose for what will be the Next Big Thing on the Web...
Yesterday Yahoo! held their Analyst Day - the 188-page slide presentation is here (12MB). There's too much in the preso for any one mind to fully comprehend, but here are the things that stood out for me...
See slide 16:
1. Next Generation Experience --> a.k.a. a customer focus, the user experience
They listed a progression of user experiences, from the Directory in the early years, to Content Verticals, to Web-based Services (communicate), Social Media (communities) and multi-device (“I want to have access to my stuff wherever I go and on any device” -- e.g. Yahoo! Go).
2. Monetization
3. Platforms
4. Beyond the Browser - a particular focus on Yahoo Go and mobile (see slide 51, which states Yahoo has a "Mobile Leadership Position")
Slide 58:
2006 Priorities: Create Superior User Experience
Slide 170 - The Internet Ecosystem: Roughly An $80 Billion Global Industry
This is why Microsoft wants to be a media company!
So in summary, Yahoo as usual is making all the right noises. Focus on user experience, building platforms, user generated content, etc. Of course as Greg Sterling noted, "The theory is right on, executing is very hard."
Google has just released its Ajax toolkit, called Google Web Toolkit:
"Google Web Toolkit (GWT) is a Java software development framework that makes writing AJAX applications like Google Maps and Gmail easy for developers who don't speak browser quirks as a second language."
Also an interesting rumor is swirling around that Google either partnered with, or licensed technology from, WebOS company Morfik. Am digging to see what if any truth there is to this...
Update, May 18: Bret Taylor, Product Manager of Google Web Toolkit, has dispelled the rumor:
"Morfik seems like great technology, but Google Web Toolkit is in no way associated with Morfik or based on its technology. There have been some rumors circulating on this list that have been causing some confusion, and I wanted to clarify.
Thanks,
Bret Taylor Product Manager, Google Web Toolkit"
Eric Weaver has come up with a very useful list of web/media conferences for this year, something which I was looking for a couple of weeks ago but couldn't find. I'm travelling to Silicon Valley again in June and will be attending Supernova, Bloggcon and maybe Gnomedex. I'm looking forward to my next trip to the heart of Web technology!
Feedburner has been running ads in feeds for a
little while now. They have a slick self-service system for publishers to select which
ads run in their feeds, which personally I've been happy with (it allows me to delete any
'offers' of ads with a $1 CPM gross - there are surprisingly a lot of advertisers who try
to get away with that pathetic figure! Try $7 CPM, that's more likely to get the tick of
approval). Now Feedburner has added the ability for publishers to put ads on their
websites. CEO Dick Costolo is positioning this as another part of their 'feeds as a
first class citizen of content' strategy. He doesn't use that particular phrasing (I
think that's my pompous terminology!), but the title of his post says it all: The Feed Powers The
Site.
Dick calls this new ad product a "a feed-driven approach to positioning ads on Web sites and blogs." Fred Wilson, a Feedburner investor, has details too. The press release explains a little more:
"By using the content and the structure of RSS and Web feeds, FeedBurner gives advertisers unique new placements — such as continuous ads, ads that dynamically appear only on content posted within specific timeframes, ads associated with highly active content (e.g. blog posts with comments or those that have been emailed) and more."
Feedburner is banking on this extra feed-derived context to give them an edge over page-derived contextual ad networks, like Google Adsense and Yahoo Publisher Network. It's difficult to predict how successful this will be without testing it first via my own feed. Feedburner seems to be suggesting its 'ownership' and inside knowledge of a site's feed gives them extra contextual powers, which the likes of Google and Yahoo don't have just by analysing the text of each page/post. I'll test it out and let you know.
The world's most visited webpage, Yahoo.com, has just had a major re-design (available for now at yahoo.com/preview) and Read/WriteWeb has the inside story. As well as the first in-depth look at the new yahoo.com, I have for you an exclusive podcast interview with Yahoo! Chief Product Officer Ash Patel and Vice President of Front Doors Tapan Bhat (yes that's his real title - more informally he's known internally as VP of "Making Yahoo! the best place to start").
The Yahoo.com re-design is officially flagged as a "preview" (aka beta) and it isn't yet the default yahoo.com homepage. In the podcast I was told there is no firm date for go-live - in the grand traditions of Web 2.0 it will be a beta until the company decides otherwise :-) Here is a look at the new design:
New Homepage:
Old Homepage:
The new yahoo.com marks a significant new look for the most trafficked website in the world. There's plenty of Ajax magic to make the Yahoo homepage more interactive - and Yahoo has made a big effort to make the user the primary focus of the new homepage. It has a larger search box, in recognition of the big role that the search interface plays in today's Web. There is also more emphasis on personalization, news content and community - moving away from the 90's 'everything under the sun' portal to a more user-focused homepage for the user. Indeed upon visiting the preview page, you're greeted with a banner that shows just how important personalization is to this re-design: "Welcome to the all-new Yahoo! It's made for you."
In the podcast we also discussed how the yahoo.com homepage has added more multimedia links and content, in line with Yahoo's status nowadays as a media company. This trend for more video and audio content on the homepage will only increase over time.
From a design point of view, the most noticeable feature is an increased use of Ajax in the new layout. Also the page is wider, recognizing that the average PC monitor size has increased over the past few years (nb: there is an option to switch to a "narrow page"). The visual design employs the famous web 2.0 technique of faded colors - and there is more use of tabs too. In the podcast, VP of Front Doors Tapan Bhat explained some of the scaling challenges of implementing Ajax in a mass market website. He made it clear that the move to a more Ajax-heavy user interface required a lot of testing and optimization before it was ready for prime time. For an example of the Ajax touches, check out the "Personal Assistant" in the top-right corner. Here it is in a closed state:
...and here it is in an open state, using Ajax to make the transition fluid:
The new features of Yahoo.com (preview) are:
- Personal Assistant: A new "personal preview area" which displays recent messages from Yahoo! Mail, an online friends list from Yahoo! Messenger, radio and movies, weather, traffic and events from Yahoo! Local. See screenshots above.
- Yahoo! Pulse: This is a new section in the home page and enables people to discover "what's hot on the Web" - including the most popular and interesting Yahoo! searches; the latest trends; popular music, videos, photos, people and opinions. This is in essence Yahoo! aggregating all of their user-generated content and filtering to get the most popular items - e.g. Interesting Flickr Photos, or Most popular cars, or Top Music Videos. Very 2.0!
- News Content: This is where Yahoo! will highlight feature stories, entertainment news, sports and finance content, plus the latest national, world and video news. These news items are hand-picked and updated by Yahoo!'s home page editors, so this is really human-powered 'professional' content (as opposed to automated Google News-type content). This section of content occupies a prime top-left spot in the new yahoo.com webpage, which is an indication of how focused Yahoo is on media content these days - because in the old design, news and entertainment headlines were to the right of the page and/or below the fold.
- Enhanced Search Box: Yahoo! Search box has been re-designed (in particular made bigger) and positioned more prominently on the homepage. Also you'll note Yahoo! Answers just beneath the Yahoo! Search box - which is their version of 'collective intelligence' search.
- Re-designed Navigation: Yahoo has always had a lot of navigation elements on their homepage, reflecting its history and reputation as the most popular portal on the planet. But the new design is definitely an improvement to my mind, as the left navigation makes Yahoo's product options stand out more. The overall impression is of a less cluttered interface, with content occupying the center of the page and so attracting the user's attention. In the old design, the navigation dominated the whole of the page. Now that the product navigation has been given its own space in the left column, that frees up room for the media content.
- Customization options: Users can customize colors and layout using the 'Page Options' button.
A final note on how the new yahoo.com design complements My Yahoo!, which is Yahoo's "personalized start page". Yahoo.com is still very much a mainstream 'portal', but it now makes more use of web 2.0 functionality like the 'collective intelligence' evident in Y! Pulse. The new yahoo.com also has personalization in it, with features like Personal Assistant. However MyYahoo! is still the option for Yahoo users who want to fully personalize their web start page, with RSS feed content subscriptions and the like. In the podcast, I asked a question about whether MyYahoo! will get more widget/gadget functionality in the near future, as Microsoft's live.com and Google's Personalized Homepage have done recently (as beta products, it must be said). The reply was that because MyYahoo is an existing and stable 'start page' that pre-dated Microsoft's and Google's efforts by a long way, Yahoo has to be more conservative about how it rolls out widget/gadget integration. But they are looking into it.
All in all, I think the new Yahoo.com preview page is a big improvement on the old design - in terms of both 'look n' feel' and functionality. Considering that yahoo.com is the most trafficked webpage in the world - and so any changes they make to it affect many millions of users - I think the new design is a big step forward. It's much more contemporary-looking than the previous version and introduces a decent slab of 'web 2.0' functionality to the masses. What do you think?
Tim Bray
in a post entitled What Matters: "Every day that goes by I believe more
and more that the only important new thing is that the Net is read-write.
Everything that matters follows from that."
I came across this the same day that I noticed a new round of 'defining web 2.0' posts popping up (it's a never-ending cycle). I came to the realization at the end of last year that web 2.0 is an umbrella term, a catch-phrase for this era of the Web. It can - and does - mean anything that people say it means. e.g. take this snippet from an interesting MercuryNews interview with VC Peter Thiel:
"Q What's different from Web 1.0?
A Those companies that are successful are incredibly successful, and a lot of the other companies have no value at all. That's the thing that is so dizzying about Web 2.0."
OK, chalk that up as definition # 53,651 (to pick a big number out of the air).
<High Horse> But I have no problem with all these definitions anymore. What matters is that the current era of the Web is vibrant and making a difference to real people. In the end, that means more to me than trying to define what in essence is just a catch-phrase - although admittedly a very handy one with many uses. </High Horse>
Photo: Tantek
