When you look at the most popular launching points for Internet uses, Yahoo ranks right at the top of the list. As an informational portal, the site has carved out a niche that puts it second only to MySpace in terms of how much time users spend perusing Yahoo’s various offerings.
Yahoo, trying to stay ahead of the curve for once, isn’t content to rest on its laurels as a general informational portal. Instead, the company has plans to launch several “Brand Universes” which will feature content directly related to a popular topic.
The term “Brand Universe” seems awfully cumbersome, though. Expansive in nature and uncharted in length, the universe is a difficult concept for even the most astute of erudite professionals to wrap their minds around, much less the general public.
For the purposes of our discussion, however, this particular definition (taken from dictionary.com) of the word “universe” seems more appropriate for the ideal to which Yahoo is striving:
The aggregate of all the objects, attributes, and relations assumed or implied in a given discussion.
Yahoo launched one of these sites back in December. It’s Nintendo Wii brand universe is the prototype in what the company hopes will be more to come.
Geoff Duncan at Digital Trends has more:
[T]he company has at least six more Brand Universes in the works, including one based on the Harry Potter and Transformers franchises, universes based on the television shows Lost and The Office, as well as universes based on the video game properties Halo and The Sims. By the end of 2007, Yahoo anticipates it may have as many as 100 Brand Universes online.
Here’s a little piece of advice for Yahoo…
Build a World of Warcraft Brand Universe and they will come. Well, at least I will.
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Joe is a staff writer for murdok. Visit murdok for the latest ebusiness news.
