Computer and Library Learning (Archived)

Yahoo CEO (and former Google executive) Marissa
Mayer announced on February 20, 2013 an overhaul to the home page for Yahoo.com based in the United States. (The
overhaul of the regional Yahoo sites, including Yahoo.ca
in Canada, has yet to be announced.) The intent is to provide Yahoo users with
a “more
intuitive and personal” experience, connecting into one’s interests and
preferences. Despite recent financial issues for the company, Associated Press
reported that Yahoo’s
home page has continued to be one of the Internet’s top destinations.
Globally, 392 million people visited Yahoo’s home page in January 2013,
compared to 365 million in January 2012 for a 7% increase. Contrast this with
334 million visitors to Microsoft’s msn.com
in January 2013, a 4% increase over January 2012.  Yahoo’s problem is that visitors to its home
page are not staying on the website as long as they did, nor are they making as
many return visits each month, in part due to the popularity of social media
sites such as Facebook.

Mayer added that the new look employs a news feed
with “infinite scroll” with the option for Yahoo account holders to customize
the news feed to their preferences. Emphasizing the social aspect, Mayer noted
that Yahoo
account users can log in either with their Yahoo or Facebook (if they have
one) usernames to access news articles from various media sources as well as
those shared by friends. Newly designed applications are available such as
local weather forecasts and birthdays of Facebook friends and other features
have been refreshed, including daily popular web trend searching and Yahoo’s
editorial features. For mobile users, Mayer confirmed that Yahoo.com’s
revamping has been optimized for smartphone and tablet users. Those concerned
with speed issues may be assured by Mayer’s assertion that Yahoo.com is now
faster to use.

The categories that one is accustomed to on
Yahoo such as Mail, News, Finance, Sports, Movies etc. can now be found on the
left-hand side of the home page under the Yahoo! Logo.

So what do others have to say about Yahoo’s makeover
of its home page? Nicole Perlroth, writing for the New York Times blog “Bits”, made the point that aesthetics
is only part of the equation as Yahoo needs to improve its revenue earnings
from digital display advertisements, a market niche in which it used to be
the leader but now trails badly behind Google (41% of the market in 2012) at
8.4% market share in 2012, down from 15.5% in 2009. Marissa Mayer is banking on
more innovation in product design and increased personalized content as
precursors to revenue growth in digital display advertising. Perlroth noted
that Mayer is counting on Yahoo.com account users’ preferences to improve
Yahoo’s algorithm, thereby serving more relevant content to those users.

Andrew Couts, writing on Digitaltrends.com, noted that the home
page’s overhaul is the
third major change at Yahoo since Marissa Mayer became the company’s CEO in
July 2012 as Yahoo
Mail and Flickr
underwent changes. Owen Thomas, writing on BusinessInsider.com, took a
different approach to Yahoo’s home page revamp, noting that BusinessInsider.com had spoken to
several Yahoo insiders who stated anonymously that Yahoo’s
home page changes had been in the works since 2009. Thomas built on the
irony of the announcement by noting that Mayer went on NBC’s Today show to
discuss the changes to Yahoo’s home page. Hold-up of these changes could be
attributed to changes in the upper echelons of the company (Yahoo has had 6
CEOs since the beginning of 2009) and a 2009 test run that received negative
reviews from consumers. However, many sites like Facebook and Twitter now load
updates when one scrolls to the bottom so the reception to Yahoo’s changes may
be viewed differently now.

Have you looked at the “new” Yahoo.com home page? Tell us what you think!