This story is sure news to me. Yahoo is going on record saying that it’s not their goal to be No. 1 in Internet search.
“We would be very happy to maintain our market share,” CFO Susan Decker told Bloomberg.
That’s it, I am no longer using Yahoo Search. I have no interest in using a product that the company doesn’t aspire to make best of breed. If search is no longer hip to Yahoo, then Yahoo Search is no longer hip with me. As much as I am a fan of Yahoo on the whole, I would rather stick with a search platform that is run by a company that’s always striving to be number one, e.g. Google. (BTW, Microsoft would rather die than say they are ceding search to Google. That’s a big difference between the two companies.)
So if Yahoo isn’t about search anymore, just what is its focus? Clearly Yahoo Search Marketing isn’t a priority for the company either since it’s tied so closely to that same six letter word it now openly poo poos – namely, search. So Yahoo, what are you all about now, entertainment, social media, being a portal again, what? It’s certainly not search anymore. Oh and please don’t send Tom Cruise or Ellen to answer this question.
Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.
He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.
