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By Tai, February 6, 2010 7:01 pm

1. It received least resistance among users among recent changes. Partly because this design leaves the feed unchanged.
2. Control items were changed. The left menu gives me the immediate impression of a Microsoft Task Bar.
3. The search bar is moved in between, centralizing social search and reminding me of Google. Of course, search is powered by Microsoft Bing.
4. Strategic move: high-light(er) applications and games without interfering with news feed. War with Apple apps?
5. Personally I like the idea of utilizing Facebook as a news reader. Apparently it can’t replace Google Reader and Twitter, but many people I care about are on Facebook, not Twitter.

Conclusion: this is what I believe a web platform should be like.

Addendum

Point (4):

Become stronger a platform for web apps. This looks like Facebook follows the path of Apple to lock-in developers.

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By Tai, September 23, 2009 7:08 pm

1. They regain focus by releasing the new search with local search.
2. They put on the negotiate the crucial contract with Microsoft to prolong the search war saga.
3. They trim off “bad Yahoo!”.
4. They save costs on R&D by cloning Tumblr for their new service Meme.
5. They regained email market share with new improvements to Yahoo! Mail.
6. And they impose higher alpha than expected.

Welcome back on track, Yahoo!

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By Tai, July 31, 2009 10:26 pm

Two immediate questions came to my mind when seeing the Microsoft - Yahoo! Search deal: “Now that Microsoft has got Bing, what else do they want from Yahoo! Search?” and “Is this a favorable deal for Microsoft at all when they still allow Yahoo! to sell ads on it?”

And so I come with a scenario: Microsoft is playing a different game, by looking more into the future.

1. To lower bargaining power of Facebook

Microsoft has 15% in Facebook, yes.

What next, Microsoft craves the data inside the great wall of Facebook. This won’t end well. Mark is definitely brilliant and ambitious, and Microsoft’s demand will face challenges.

By having data from Yahoo! Search under his arms, Steve Ballmer has more bargaining power against Facebook, and additionally Microsoft has a fall-back plan should the relationship with Mark go sour.

It’s a big deal, now that social media are devaluing search power greatly, directly hurting Google’s business.

2. When it comes to Microsoft technical expertise, ain’t no data the same

Bing’s data will be different from those of Google. While Google has vast amount of diversified data, Bing will have data about people’s consumption preference, the arguably most valuable set of all customer information on the internet. Why? Because Bing positions itself as a decision-engine for shoppers first and foremost.

Data from Yahoo! Search will also be different, thanks to some very nice verticals Yahoo! is currently having. With their superior technology, Microsoft surely knows what to do and how to mine the data.

So, I have put on an argument that answers the first question: apart from making Bing the second competitor overnight, Microsoft will have the data it wants and enhance its control on many battles.

3. To create a precedent

It’s simply as that: Microsoft has made a precedent in buying a Yahoo! asset and more importantly, tying Yahoo! with a ten-year contract. Now that Yahoo! is having some nice products and platforms such as BOSS. What’s bad for Yahoo! will be good and cheap for Microsoft.

4. To make it useful and clean at the end of the year and in a decade

Financially, not paying up-front will make Microsoft’s balance sheet very clean at the end of this year.

Strategically, luring Yahoo! into a long-term deal will only turn the tide to Microsoft’s side, who has the cash powerhouse to pursue a real war with any competitor.

So then I have answers the second question: this deal is sweet for the giant.

What do you think?

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By Tai, April 25, 2009 7:14 pm

A quick review of this article on Boingboing.

As search result becomes relevant to users need and free preview is provided, Google Book Search will soon become the destination of many book readers.

Soon, Google can take advantage of this and allow searchers to actually purchase the books online directly from Google search results.

In terms of business, this makes way for Google to enter e-commerce and even distribution.

If they do, Google has not and will not compete with portal sites like Amazon, but will go from their core competency: search.

Respectively, competition against Google will not be by search, but on other territories that Google has yet dominated, such as virality and social recommendations.

Comments (4)

By Tai, April 10, 2009 7:34 pm

I’d suspected that Facebook is moving fast toward monetization.

But Sheryl Sandberg’s confirmation that Facebook has been profitable for 5 consecutive quarters still comes as a nice surprise.

Nevertheless, considering this model, where all the money has been generated is not much a question.

Where else has Facebook been making money on? Will Social Search come next? Will Facebook do Data Mining behind the scene?