Ex-Yahooligan Ravi
Dronamraju noted a couple of months ago (I’ve only just seen it) a subtle but
important point about Yahoo’s new Ajaxified homepage:
“This homepage dropped the concept of website directory completely. I guess the
transformation is complete. Yahoo! is now more about showing people in and around yahoo!
network and not about showing people what’s most useful on the web. Yahoo! is the
new AOL of the web…”
(emphasis mine)
I think the comparison to 90’s AOL is a little unfair. Yahoo is using social tools
like Y! Answers and MyWeb, along with web services and its developer network, to make
external content an important part of its service. Also as one of Ravi’s commenters
pointed out, search long ago replaced the directory as the primary means of content
discovery on the Web.
Nevertheless, it is an interesting point that the new Yahoo homepage links
predominantly to Yahoo properties – rather than to external sources, as it did in the
old days. The directory service is still there, but has been de-emphasized on the
homepage:
Then:
The directory was a section on the homepage (albeit near the bottom)…and
…it was also featured as a search option
Now:
The directory is still one of the options hanging off the search box – but isn’t
otherwise featured on the homepage
Perhaps it’s just a sign of the times: directories of external websites are out, Yahoo media
properties are in.
