Yahoo!’s Schizophrenia

[jmiller]

It must be Yahoo!’s week to get slammed. Last week was Technorati and the weeks before that saw Google and MSN face the gauntlet. And now, as everybody else is whirling accusations of phishing and stolen bandwidth, Business Week Online pounds the other Yahoo! kidney over site design.

“[D]esign gurus and former Yahoo insiders interviewed by BusinessWeek all say the same thing: Yahoo.com remains cluttered and scattershot, almost schizophrenic…Is it a media company, a services company, or a search company?” writes Sarah Lacy.

The article muses about the importance of effective site design for building and retaining users and, quoting several former Yahoo! employees and industry professionals, is highly critical of the 2nd most popular search engine and arguably the most visited portal on the web. The tone is of a vein that paints the picture of a struggling Internet entity desperately trying to define itself.

The quotes seem extra carefully selected to convey that message, and stingingly contradicts the numbers and what many predict for Yahoo!’s future.

“It lacks focus and, surprisingly for a company named Yahoo, it lacks personality. It's ‘a page that wants to be so many things that in the end, it ends up being nothing,’ says Jesse James Garrett, director of user experience strategy at design firm Adaptive Path in San Francisco.

On the Internet, it seems that there are three emerging strategies: Do one thing and do it well; Do everything and do it well; Do one thing and do it well and then wait for a company that does everything to buy you.

And it hardly seems that Yahoo!, at this point, has to prove anything. It is a media company. It is a services company. It is a search company. And it does all of those things quite well. Billions of dollars, millions of users, billions of search queries, strong year after strong year are hardly symptoms of a company that doesn’t know who it is or where it’s going. And for a site that lacks personality, an awful lot of people seem to like it.

[wrmineo]

Another great article by jmiller; well done!

Yes, no one can doubt that the folks at Yahoo! are eating well, even if it is my bandwidth that does some of the feeding. They were a publically traded company at the rise and fall of the tech stock booms and bust years, yet survived and actually strengthened.

I'm not bothered by their lack of design, fluff and stuff - it's called branding. Everytime Pepsi or Coke have tried a new look they have been drenched in dismal results; Yahoo! is no dummy and has taken the slow and steady approach to introducing new looks and tools - it's working just fine.

In my opinion, where Yahoo and other large companies could truly stand to improve, is adhering to the concepts of Customer Relationship Management, not just spouting rhetoric about it which only serves to embarass them when they go against the very principles of CRM.

[DMC_34]

Originally Posted by wrmineo

where Yahoo and other large companies could truly stand to improve, is adhering to the concepts of Customer Relationship Management, not just spouting rhetoric about it which only serves to embarass them when they go against the very principles of CRM.

Couldnt have said it better myself.

I would add that although Yahoo is steady, I still think their algo is the worst of the 3 major SE's. Filled to the brim with SPAM and getting worse. But Yahoo is mroe than just a SE and hence the reason for the lack of attention on their SE.

DMC

[khurramali]

Originally Posted by jmiller

Is it a media company, a services company, or a search company?”

We will have to see their MISSION STATEMENT to see what their aim is.

Yahoo's (YHOO) Mission Statement & Values

Yahoo's Mission

Our mission is to be the most essential global Internet service for consumers and businesses. How we pursue that mission is influenced by a set of core values - the standards that guide interactions with fellow Yahoos, the principles that direct how we service our customers, the ideals that drive what we do and how we do it. Many of our values were put into practice by two guys in a trailer some time ago; others reflect ambitions as our company grows. All of them are what we strive to achieve every day.

Yahoo's Values

Excellence:

We are committed to winning with integrity. We know leadership is hard won and should never be taken for granted. We aspire to flawless execution and don't take shortcuts on quality. We seek the best talent and promote its development. We are flexible and learn from our mistakes.

Innovation:

We thrive on creativity and ingenuity. We seek the innovations and ideas that can change the world. We anticipate market trends and move quickly to embrace them. We are not afraid to take informed, responsible risk.

Customer Fixation:

We respect our customers above all else and never forget that they come to us by choice. We share a personal responsibility to maintain our customers' loyalty and trust. We listen and respond to our customers and seek to exceed their expectations.

Teamwork:

We treat one another with respect and communicate openly. We foster collaboration while maintaining individual accountability. We encourage the best ideas to surface from anywhere within the organization. We appreciate the value of multiple perspectives and diverse expertise.

Community:

We share an infectious sense of mission to make an impact on society and empower consumers in ways never before possible. We are committed to serving both the Internet community and our own communities.

Fun:

We believe humor is essential to success. We applaud irreverence and don't take ourselves too seriously. We celebrate achievement. We yodel.

i hope this answers the question.

[DrTandem1]

Originally Posted by jmiller

Is it a media company, a services company, or a search company?”

I think Yahoo! is being singled out unfairly. I think the same could be said of telephone and cable TV companies with regards to internet/telephony/entertainment. It's not schizophrenia. It's a melding of the technologies, which soon no one will view them as separate. Yahoo! is on the cutting edge of this revolution.