WSJ's "All Things Digital" section has a video where journalist Kara Swisher interviews Demand Media's Richard Rosenblatt. Let me say that Rosenblatt seems like a very intelligent yet grounded guy. None of the proto-typical ranting and nonsense that spews from many Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who are drinking their own juice. Rosenblatt was the co-founder of MySpace and sold it to News Corp. He comments in the interview about how his new company builds vertical social networking communities. For example, if you are an impassioned golfer, why go to Facebook and join a golf group? Why not go directly to an online group specifically for golf? I agree completely.
The growth of the web foretold this phenomena. Destination websites that served as general knowledge pages (Yahoo, for example), helped connect us to different and new webpages. Gradually, we began to visit the pages we knew and that led to less surfing and less need for a general directory. We still search a lot. But not for new web destinations, mostly for new information.
I think Rosenblatt has it right. But our behavior on the web in the 90's was a pre-cursor to our behavior today. In viewing it from this perspective, one doesn't need to wonder why Yahoo is in trouble. And we have to admit that Yang is stuck in the past drinking his own juice if he thinks a Google ad pact can save Yahoo from the fundamental change in audience behavior.
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