Yahoo has tons of products, each one of which is a small or medium-sized company unto itself. With the caveat of not knowing and using all the products, if I had the power to be the CEO of Yahoo here are the top 5 product initiatives I would prioritize:
1. Faster page loads. Many Yahoo pages are too heavy. 360 is one of the worst culprits; but also search result pages and others as well. Faster page loads make users very happy. Simple, but true.
2. Don’t force ads. This is a tricky one. Yahoo’s business is showing ads. But instead of thrusting them in front of users at every opportunity, how about being more subtle and creative about it? On SERPs, text-based sponsored listings are not the end goal for search engine advertising.
3. Experiment with the UI of search results pages. I’ve written that real estate on Yahoo is too valuable to experiment with, but nonetheless it needs to happen. The trick is to experiment and not confuse the massive user-base that Yahoo has. That’s the delicate balance that needs to be walked.
4. My Yahoo upgrade. My Yahoo should be THE BEST page on the web. Period. And it’s not. It’s OK, but it’s not like I log on everyday and can’t wait to see what I’ll find there. It’s been my homepage for years, and it still is, but it needs a face lift. I’ve played around with Netvibes, and it’s pretty good, but still not quite there yet. Plus Netvibes is aimed at people who are adept online. Maybe integrating more behind the scenes Findory type functionality would work. Instead of making users manually customize everything, how about having My Yahoo blend in some learning algorithms?
5. Yahoo Groups upgrade. Groups is another product that needs a face lift. Make it drag and drop. Integrate really cool calendar functionality and ways to share images. So much potential there. It could even be a group blogging platform that publishes to the web.
i’ve oft pondered this question also, usually in the context of google as a competitor. the question is also autobiographical, as i have migrated entirely to google over the last couple of years.
early on, yahoo’s strategy seemed like “aol for the web” - pushing media, community, and ads at the user. google, on the other hand has taken much more of a “pull” model. this difference is most clearly scene in the default home pages for each service.
that’s changing a bit now… google’s personalized home is pretty good. and google’s added a lot of stuff. but it hasn’t done a whole lot for diversifying google’s traffic.
i would add a number 6 recommendation: figure out how to embed yahoo’s social applications more naturally into the user experience.
flickr kicks picasa’s ass. but still, i encounter people everyday who have never heard of flickr, and don’t get it. likewise with myweb/del.icio.us. i share photos and bookmarks with my geek friends, but my sister has neither the time, savvy, or interest to do anything more than view a flickr photoset.
these are great tools for differentiating yahoo, and fueling a community media strategy, but they are not easily adapted to by a mainstream audience.
figure out how to make these social tools as intuitive as a point & shoot camera, and yahoo will have something there.
hey john - i’m sorry to hear you’ve migrated.
i like your suggested #6 - and really it’s related to my #4 and #5 (improve My and Groups) in that including some of that cool functionality would make those pages sizzle.