ALL NEWS

November of 2012 yesterday, rumors began circulating about a Yahoo email user interface to be similar to Gmail. And about a month rumors emerged, Yahoo officially announced Yahoo Mail with a new look. Since that Yahoo gave option to the user to choose whether they want a new interface or keep the classic look. Now starting from June 3, every Yahoo! Mail user would not want to move to the new interface. For users who did not want to upgrade, they must stop using the service entirely or use it via IMAP, but still there is no option to go back to the classic interface. 

The new interface has a service agreement terms and privacy policy which must be approved by new users if they want to continue using this service. The policy essentially give Yahoo permission to scan and analyze all incoming and outgoing communications from the user account. Some data is captured and stored, so Yahoo can provide personalized content are relevant to the user which also means that well-targeted ads.

It has been a tumultuous couple of years for Yahoo. Though its status as one of the world’s leading search engines and internet companies has not changed, the revenues and profits have been on the decline. The situation has been made worse with the succession of CEOs that have been shown the door or have quit the position themselves. In a bid to reprieve the situation, Yahoo has joined hands with Facebook to revamp its website. In a nutshell, Yahoo is trying to become social.

Over the past few years, Yahoo has been losing out to Google and Facebook. The search engine and social network have been taking away its users. As a result, Yahoo has been losing preference with advertisers as businesses don’t want to spend too much on placing ads on the website. During the same time, the ad revenue for Facebook and Google both has been on the rise. Yahoo has now taken a cue from Facebook to make some changes to its website.

In a bid to emulate the social network, Yahoo has teamed up with it to introduce a few new features that would make it more user-friendly. Now, people would be able to see the pages and other content ‘liked’ by their Facebook friends. A newsfeed feature has also been installed which shows news in the same way as you see updates on Facebook. The overhaul of the website was made public by the current CEO Marissa Mayer.

Yahoo is not going to stop the changes to its service offering with the revamp of the website. Some more changes are to be made to their internet shop windows. The changes are currently being worked on and will be revealed in the days to come. Most of all, Yahoo is trying to make itself compatible for mobile users. One area where they have been losing out is the mobile usage. The newer and better Yahoo app would take care of that problem.

Even though Facebook is not a search engine, it is a competitor to Yahoo. One wonders why they teamed up with Yahoo for revamping the website. The answer is pretty simple: the Google factor. Facebook has to contend with Google for ad revenue, both on conventional computers and mobile devices. By helping Yahoo revamp, Facebook might be able to take away some of Google’s visitors. In fact, some experts predict this move would have a positive impact on Facebook’s growing user base.

As with all things in the online world, the impact of this move by Yahoo will only be seen in the future. Nothing can be said with certainty regarding whether Yahoo would be able to reclaim its share of online users. The only thing which is becoming somewhat certain is that Marissa Mayer is here to stay. The website revamp is one of several positive steps she has taken to improve Yahoo’s situation. The revenues might not increase immediately but this move is constructive for sure.