Slashdot Log In
Yahoo! Buys del.icio.us
Posted by
Zonk
on Fri Dec 09, 2005 03:48 PM
from the no-longer-merely-tasty dept.
from the no-longer-merely-tasty dept.
HellSpam writes "The developers at del.icio.us have announced that they were purchased by Yahoo!. From the post: 'We're proud to announce that del.icio.us has joined the Yahoo! family. Together we'll continue to improve how people discover, remember and share on the Internet, with a big emphasis on the power of community. We're excited to be working with the Yahoo! Search team - they definitely get social systems and their potential to change the web. (We're also excited to be joining our fraternal twin Flickr!)'" For background on this purchase, carre4 writes "Stuart Maxwell, Jeff Barr, and Yahoo! team's Jeremy Zawodny recently did an interview explaining What's so cool about del.icio.us, in which Jeremy gave a non-committal answer about Yahoo acquiring del.ico.us"
Related Stories
[+]
How Will Yahoo "Monetize" Their Social Networks? 74 comments
Thomas Hawk writes "One of the most interesting things to come out of Yahoo's earnings call with analysts yesterday was a statement by Yahoo's COO, Daniel L. Rosenweig on Yahoo's plans to 'monetize' their various social network properties. Flickr was mentioned five times on the conference call and their de.lic.io.us property was as well, after neither were mentioned in last quarter's call. Rosenweig characterized these services as being largely unmonetized and talked about leveraging these "assets" and targeting and profiling a large growing registered audience base. It will be interesting to see how some of Yahoo's popular web properties change through the monetization process."
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
simpy (Score:5, Informative)
Re:simpy (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.simpy.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday April 15 2003, @12:58PM)
Accounts (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Accounts (Score:4, Interesting)
Aren't Yahoo famous for their "portal" and web directory? It seems to me that right now it's a fairly good indicator of what pages are popular and have good content, which is valuable to Yahoo.
Apart from anything else, Yahoo could simply correlate what you bookmark with what other people bookmark, and suggest websites to you based on shared interests. That adds value to their portal.
On the other hand, if Yahoo start mining this data, spammers will quickly catch on and start "bookmarking" their own sites, so it's not all smooth sailing.
Re:Accounts (Score:4, Informative)
And... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:And... (Score:5, Insightful)
Hm. Strange. I don't see that on Flickr - what makes you think it'l be on del?
2: overbrand it against the original (ie the Y! logo on each page...)
Looking at Flickr, again, it's at the bottom of each page. Sure kill to look at a logo in exchange for a free service. Especially if it's at the bottom of the page...
3: start tracking and analyzing people's bookmarks more for their search
You're not exactly getting forced to share your bookmarks. They could've just crawled del instead of buying them.
4: enforce limits on the number of bookmarks that people can have, or charge for "premium" services (del.icio.us right now is unlimited bookmarks, free.)
Based on what information? Oh, you're making this just up? Sorry, must've missed that.
5: and worst of all, make us merge our yahoo and del.icio.us accounts.
Again, looking at Flickr, that didn't happen. And if it does, I'm not entirely unhappy. I don't want hundreds of online identities.
Yahoo Is Evil (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.meehawl.com/Blogfiles/ | Last Journal: Thursday December 04 2003, @06:38PM)
Yahoo is where good ideas go to die in its evil, uncaring corporate bosom of anti-user hostility. EGroups. Geocities. Broadcast. The list goes on and on.
"When you are old, you become impatient with the way in which the young applaud the most insignificant improvements - the invention of some new valve or sprocket - while remaining heedless of the world's barbarism"
(Julian Barnes - Flaubert's Parrot)
The young and the naive at least have an excuse for credulous optimism. Those old enough to know better usually *do* know better, but have a vested interest in the whole bubble boosterism.
whats wrong with our kids? (Score:1, Funny)
(Last Journal: Thursday May 05 2005, @07:40AM)
Guess it's better than the 133t speak generation, ughg
I see a trend (Score:4, Insightful)
Is this the end of the good times? Are we witnessing the beginning of the "real" internet business, where there is no space for startups and the only players have to be the huge ones? I don't say this in a damn-the-megacorps way. I am just worried that this kind of business is finally becoming... well pretty much like EVERY business out there.
Any thoughts?
Re:I see a trend (Score:4, Interesting)
I think you're misunderstanding a lot of the so called "startups". A lot of business's get started with the hope of being bought out by a big company.
Look at it this way:
Would you rather form a startup, work hard and sweat all your life hoping to eventually rival the giants in your field, or would you prefer to form a startup, work hard and sweat for a few years, until some big corporation sees the what you've achieved, and gives you a big paycheck, effectively buying out your company?
While I can appreciate those who want to someday replace the Yahoo's, and Adobe's of the world, I myself would be more than happy to spend a few years toiling in the fields, if it meant a paycheck which would allow me to retire at the age of 40!
Not that del.icio.us was looking for the "big payoff", but your post seems to imply that being bought out is somehow akin to selling out (very similar to the rants you hear when a popular independant band signs on to a major label), which is something I disagree with. Having said that, I am rather interested in what yaho will do with the technology... I'm guessing we'll see some new enhancements to the Yahoo toolbar for starters. Something like "People who have enjoyed the page you're currently on have also enjoyed the following: www.xxx.com, www.yyy.com, etc."
del.icio.us and Katrina PeopleFinder (Score:5, Informative)
(http://mrscake.livejournal.com/)
Only one word describes this move: (Score:1, Flamebait)
(http://www.celsius1414.com/)
The deal may be delicious... (Score:5, Funny)
So... (Score:1, Insightful)
Urgh. *goes export his del.icio.us bookmarks*
Re:So... (Score:4, Funny)
(http://wiitimer.com/)
Flickr.icio.us, anyone? (Score:2, Insightful)
Tagging vs. Searching (Score:5, Interesting)
(http://www.lonseidman.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday February 26 2004, @02:15PM)
What's interesting is seeing the dynamic of Internet search philosphy developing here. Google's about 'searching' and Yahoo, it seems, is about 'tagging.'
Yet another free service that'll become useless? (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://www.wlkr.net/)
Except that it all web2 hype even before Yahoo acquired it. Now that's its been Yahoo'd, it going to become completely irrelevant
There's a fundamental difference between how Yahoo and Google approach a new service:
Yahoo: How do we milk this thing?
Google: How does this benefit our end users?
Not convinced: How many clicks to read new Gmail, and how many to read yahoo mail? And how many ads in each? Or compare blogger to Yahoo360.
Yahoo acquiring a web2.0 hyped servie, is an oxymoron. The web2.0 folks, atleast claim to making stuff easier for end users. Yahoo, on the other hand, works on the exact opposite philiosophy. What's the point of this acquisition then?
They want the del.icio.us user base (Score:2, Insightful)
(http://web-weasel.livejournal.com/ | Last Journal: Wednesday August 02 2006, @07:32PM)
They're buying del.icio.us for the community not the technology.
Slashdot acquired by SCO (Score:1, Offtopic)
(http://www.dynamoo.com/)
Alternatives? (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://www.fiestyturtles.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 23, @09:07PM)
Bubblicious!! (Score:1)
(http://www.slashdoc.com/)
delete account (Score:2)
all your base... (Score:3, Funny)
Didnt yahoo fuck up flickr bad? (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Thursday September 09 2004, @09:38PM)
Based off past experience with Yahoo .... (Score:2)
(http://slashdot.org/)
Every time I've used a service which Yahoo has come on board to, it becomes unuseable crap. And shorly after they come on board I end up stopping using it because it is no longer as good as it once was.
Which is really too bad, because I was beginning to find del.icio.us exceedingly useful to me. Now I'll probably have to export all of my bookmarks and see what else I can find.
Finally, some bandwidth (Score:1)
Bummers (Score:1)
(Last Journal: Tuesday January 11 2005, @09:42AM)
Tagging: So hot right now (Score:2)
Interesting that this transaction went down in the same week as the tag-based dating site, Consumating was acquired by C|Net. Both were tag-based, and both had been in business for only 12 months or less - very similar situations to Flickr. Big companies are becoming much more aggressive about acquiring promising startups early - and it makes a lot of sense. These acquisitions are in the mid-to-low 7 figures, a bargin compared to trying to buy later for 100 million or more.
New name (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Tuesday April 12 2005, @11:12PM)
My del.icio.us Clone (Score:2)
(http://magnolia.fadeover.org/)
Why not delicio.us? (Score:1)
Looking for.. (Score:1)
I just heard a rumor http://maple.nu/ [maple.nu] are looking for developers contanct maple.nu@gmail.com if you feel comfortable using ruby and want to contribute
del.et.ed (Score:1)
I was an eGroups member until Yahoo completely destroyed that, though it may be a few years ago now I'm not going to start trusting Yahoo now.
The spam was increasing on del.icio.us anyway, so I guess it's no great loss.
Greatttt!!!! (Score:1)
(http://www.voidone.com/)
Shameless plug(in) (Score:1)
(http://manas.tungare.name/)
Worst news in a long time (Score:1)
(http://l0b0.net/)
That's it then, for the feature most loved about del.icio.us: The dead simple interface. Now it'll be 2+ links away from the main page, accessible only through their enormously bloated I-wish-I-was-using-lynx-right-now interface, with a password form that for some stupid reason doesn't work with the Password Generator [angel.net].
I guess I'll just have to backup my 2393 bookmarks and 3482 unique tags (as of today) and, dunno, hope someone builds an open source version.
Great, now they can require NS4.7 on macs! (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Sunday December 08 2002, @06:59PM)
In Other News... (Score:3, Funny)
Says Herman Johnson, CIO of Mail Order Meats, 'my site was getting pounded hard by a bunch of yahoos who seemed to have no interest in spicy smoked meats. I don't know where they were coming from but it was one more in a long series of unfortunate events that burned through the last of my IPO money. Earlier this year I had already moved the offices from a 200,000 sq. ft. high rise in Mountain View to a corner of my parent's basement to try to conserve cash.'
'Suddenly this storm of activity hit. They used up all my bandwidth but didn't buy anything, only leaving rude innuendoes in the forums about my kielbasa sausages. It was just time to try something new. Plus my mom needed the space in her deep freezer where I kept my inventory and the Slim Jims kept disappearing. I suspect an inside job. I told my dad I know it's him and if I ever catch him I will call the police.'
Mail Order Meats (Stock symbol MOM) which once reached a high of 212 1/8 dollars a share now trades over the counter at 0.00004 cents.
Some offline application maybe? (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://vitalyb.wordpress.com/)
However, I really hate how I have to wait everytime I want to search/edit my bookmarks. I really wish that there was some kind of external app (Powermarks style) that let me easily play with my bookmarks and update/sync from Delicious only in the background.
Anyone knows anything like that?
Does anyone know how much Yahoo paid? (Score:2)
No (Score:2)
Please, don't let them buy all the good free stuff available.
Hope yahoo doesn't change the structure (Score:1)
(http://linuxhelp.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Saturday October 01 2005, @02:28AM)
Now that yahoo has taken over del.icio.us, I hope, they do not mess with its basic structure and looks which I believe is its USP.
Oh my god no. (Score:2)
(Last Journal: Monday July 17 2006, @06:40PM)
Fascinating social experiment (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.jmenon.com/blog)
(i) How do I get away from them?
(ii) When is Google going to welcome me home?
I think it is amazing how much trust we automatically place in Google. I always find myself thinking, "Oh, Google wants this information about me? Sure, here you go. Have my phone number and social security number too."
Honestly, if Google offered an on-line password-management service, millions of us would flock to it. But if Yahoo! or Microsoft, or any other company did it? Forget it.
And all this for a company who scans our email in order to serve us ads. Someone should do a sociological study of this phenomenon.
This is trust, this is customer loyalty, this is why Google just...
Sell out. (Score:1)
Headline (Score:1)
Wonderful headline.
I'll take Why company names shouldn't have punctuation in them for $100, Alex.
Yeah, Right (Score:2)
Yet - they get how to cover your PC with crap. Very social of them.
Oh, wait, maybe that was "socialist"...as in "we own your desktop and your browser"...
inevitable, i guess (Score:1)
Sounds like a reason to switch to StumbleUpon (Score:2)
(http://www.webcommons.biz/)
Check out StumbleUpon [stumbleupon.com]. It really is a great service, and it's not corporatized. It's supported by donors.
But they didn't 'buy'.... (Score:1)
So we have the task before us of making sure people know what an awkward 'break' the Yahoo-'owned' meme represents, and also make sure that something really AWFUL gets put up on deli.cio.us for people to encounter instead when they type what they naturally think, i.e. http://deli.cio.us/ [deli.cio.us]
Yahoo does a real ethical thing! (Score:2)
(http://www.noooxml.org/petition)
I noticed they upgraded their search to much more personalized stuff. "Myweb"
Also they added public bookmarks feature: "Myweb 2.0"
While thinking one of the huge companies stole enthusiast created things as del.icio.us, I heard this story.
They could move along as in fact, "online bookmarks" is a yahoo invented feature back in '98 or earlier. Everyone who uses yahoo toolbar knows it. The "public" feature was invented by del.icio guys and they bought it.
Right thing to do.
Move from del.icio.us to...? (Score:1)
(http://www.irox.de/ | Last Journal: Wednesday January 18 2006, @03:01PM)
Re:Web 2.0 (Score:1)
(http://www.latke.net/)
Your rants are so, like, 1999.