Sunday, November 18, 2012

Yahoo Facebook Search Alliance Would Be Interesting

I think this is the most intriguing move by Marissa Mayer since she took up leadership at Yahoo. But so far this is just a meeting between two powerful women in tech.

I have long advocated Facebook should go into search. And I thought from day one Yahoo outsourcing search to Microsoft was a mistake.

Facebook's Search Option
The Facebook Search Engine
Facebook Could Do Well In Search

This move is audacious. I'd be interested to know what kind of timeline we might be talking about.

But it would be a mistake to think of this in terms of a political alliance. When Yahoo and Microsoft teamed up, two plus two did not equal four. They together lost share to Google.

This is about if you can innovate. I think these two might be able to.

Marissa Mayer: Biographical Details
Marissa Mayer's Gameplan
Marissa Mayer: Photos
Sheryl Sandberg: New Yorker Profile

Yahoo! plots alliance with Facebook in new search deal
Facebook has already said it plans to boost its web search facility, with founder Mark Zuckerberg noting that the social network is “pretty uniquely positioned to answer the questions people have”. ...... Yahoo!, which started life as one the first major search engines but is now dwarfed by rival Google, would benefit from Facebook’s vast army of more than 1bn users. ..... Working with Facebook would also allow Yahoo! to piggyback on the social network’s brand cachet to help it recruit top-tier computer programmers ..... An alliance between Facebook and Yahoo! will pose a major threat to Google and stands to reorder the hierarchy of the world’s biggest technology companies. A senior figure likened Yahoo!’s position to that of a minority party in a hung parliament, with the power to act as kingmaker by choosing another party with which to align itself. ..... she and Ms Sandberg, who is also a former Google executive, are expected to use their combined might to launch a serious competitor. ..... Google dominates the market with around a 66pc share. Bing has had some effect at the edges, with just under 16pc of all searches taking place on the platform.
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