
What Yahoo Really Needs Is an Editor in Chief - robg
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/yahoo-doesnt-need-a-ceo-as-much-as-an-editor-in-chief/?ref=technology
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mdasen
I feel like editors/directors are what got Yahoo into this position in the
first place. Rather than focusing on technology, they assumed that the
internet would be like traditional media - something hard for new players to
break into, something where you could tell the viewers what they wanted to
see, etc.

That hasn't proven to be the case. Yahoo and AOL focused on pushing content
they thought was important to users.

    
    
      Yahoo & AOL: Oh, you're logging into webmail, you probably want to hear about Britney Spears' new baby first.
      Me: No, I really don't.
      Yahoo & AOL: Well, we'll show you that story because everyone likes gossip in their mail.
      Me: I don't.
      Yahoo & AOL: Well, you're wrong.  Our research tells us what you want, not you.
    

Google took the opposite approach - give people what they ask for. Don't try
to give them something unless they ask for it. Maybe subtly suggest - like the
webclips in Gmail - but make it so the user can tell you what to put there and
can eliminate it if unwanted. Then, focus on the technology that lets users
get what they want rather than hiring "experts" that can tell you what people
as a whole "want".

In the old world (newspapers, television, radio), it was important to figure
out what people as a whole wanted. There was limited capacity and so only a
few of the billions of possibilities could reach an individual. The internet
is different. For practical purposes, the permutations are infinite. As such,
the problem is letting a user find what they want rather than experts
selecting what everyone will average to.

Yes, it would be nice if Yahoo's services formed a cohesive direction as the
article suggests. However, that's not Yahoo's big problem. Yahoo's problem is
thinking that no matter where I go, I want to hear about the sexiest
celebrities or what Palin is doing or about the hollywood SAG or about the
Knicks. . . Let me tell you what I want and then get it for me! Wait, I did
tell you what I wanted! I wanted my mail! So, why are you getting me "news"
when I asked for mail?!?!

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jorgeortiz85
This is rich. A once-great, dying newspaper telling a once-great, dying
Internet company how to run itself.

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lacker
Exactly. Plus, it's advising Yahoo to be _more like_ the New York Times.

