After slightly more than a decade as a Microsoft employee, Scott Moore, the general manager of MSN Programming, leaves the software behemoth for parts south. On May 2, the MSN vet will become vice president of content operations for Yahoo!'s fledgling Santa Monica, Calif.-based Media Group. Tapped by former ABC programming honcho Lloyd Braun, Moore leaves the rainforests of the Northwest for sun-drenched so-Cal--representing almost as big a life change as the move to a different corporate culture--where he will develop content strategies for Yahoo! Most recently, he managed editorial, design, and product development for MSN Channels, MSNBC.com, MSN Video, and MSN Autos, and was instrumental in developing MSN's video service. Moore also served as president of MSNBC.com and publisher of Slate, the online magazine Microsoft sold to the Washington Post Co. earlier this year. In his first and only interview since news of his move broke, Moore speaks to the OnlineMediaDaily about the new gig and the prospects for online storytelling. OnlineMediaDaily: Why did you make the move? MSN has accelerated search initiatives and has momentum. Why now? Moore: I was at Microsoft for ten and a half years. I felt like I'd accomplished everything I wanted to accomplish. There was an attraction about coming to work with Lloyd Braun. And the culture of the group is going to be much more of a media and entertainment culture than what I was used to at Microsoft, and I found that attractive. I look at Yahoo! from a technology standpoint, and it's incredibly impressive. The ad-serving and ad targeting technology is best in class. They've got a huge play in search. They've also made a real commitment to online media; that's where my personal passion lies and it's the stuff I get most excited about. They're really doubling down on the media side of the business. OnlineMediaDaily: What's your new gig--what will you be doing? Moore: I'll be responsible for managing a sizable chunk of the content that Yahoo! publishes. [Note: At the time of our interview, Moore wasn't sure which content areas would be reporting to him.] I'm sure I'll have some involvement in deal-making. OnlineMediaDaily: What do you bring to Yahoo!? Moore: I have a passion for the online publishing media, and I have a track record of being involved in some pretty interesting initiatives--Slate, Expedia, and MSNBC. I think a key thing is that I share a vision with Yahoo's leadership of what the future of the Internet looks like. OnlineMediaDaily: What most excites you about the new job? Moore: The thing I'm most excited about is the next phases of Internet development, which I believe will be about storytelling. You need good storytellers ... I don't think the Internet as a medium has come anywhere close to realizing its potential as a storytelling medium. The other key area that I'm really interested in is user-generated content, particularly blogs and user communities like Craigslist. The challenge is to figure out how to harness the massive creative energy represented by those things, and harness it in a way that allows the highest-quality content to rise to the top. OnlineMediaDaily: Where is the storytelling going to come from? So far, there hasn't been much storytelling on the Web. The assumption is that Yahoo! will acquire original content by licensing it, buying small developers and animators, and partnering with production studios. There's been speculation that Yahoo! may even develop content on its own. Moore: If you look at massive multi-player online role-playing games, there already is a ton of storytelling online. But these games require a lot of work from the players. They're kind of like actors in a drama that they make up as they go along. Most people won't work that hard. I believe great ideas and execution are the keys to great storytelling. Great ideas don't need to be expensive to develop. The cost of production for the Internet is a fraction of the cost in any other medium. We're dealing with pixels and bandwidth, not film production and movie stars or ink, paper, and postage. It's a lot cheaper than television and film, and that's why I'm so optimistic. Flash adoption is ubiquitous. Bandwidth costs are going down. The creative palette has hugely expanded for professionally produced original content. When you add in the phenomenon of user-generated content--things like blogs, vlogs, photo-sharing, communities of interest, and the like--the medium is set to blossom. OnlineMediaDaily: Yahoo! is known as a really great content aggregator that assembles content from various sources. How will it shift into the world of original content? Moore: Well, I can't say exactly right now. The aggregation thing, though, is totally valid. Even though people say Yahoo! is an aggregator--as though that's a bad thing--the fact is, the audience is clicking on it. The audience has completely bought into the Yahoo! model. There's a great platform there to build on and to do more things. I've studied Yahoo! for a long time. They have great depth of engagement with their audience. They dominate in share of minutes and page views per user in every single content category. In total minutes spent in news, sports, and finance, generally Yahoo! is No. 1. I can't even think of a segment where it isn't. OnlineMediaDaily: What are your goals in the near-term? Moore: I want to build on the fantastic strengths and the foundation that Yahoo! has already created in terms of online engagement and technology, and to begin this next generation, which to me, is about storytelling and community. I think Yahoo! is the best place to do that.
Yahoo! Inc. Tuesday announced the beta release of personalization features for its search engine. Dubbed "My Web," Yahoo! described the offering as a "personal search engine" that allows users to save, recall, and share with others on the Web online search-related information. "My Web" also lets users create a personal online archive by saving desired Web pages, search results, and a search history to "My Web." This development comes almost exactly one week after Google released a test service called "My Search History," which tracks users' searches when they are signed on to the service, and allows them to search those pages at a later date. The two Web portals are competing tooth and nail on several fronts for Web traffic and the ad revenue it generates. Yahoo! and Google have competing versions of comparison shopping, blogging, and local search applications. And when Google launched a free e-mail service with 1 gigabyte of storage space, Yahoo! quickly countered by increasing storage for its own free e-mail service, at which point Google announced that it, in turn, would offer 2 gigabytes of free storage. Upon Yahoo! 360's broad release in the next several weeks, tools including the folders of users' search history will be integrated with others, including e-mail, instant messenger, and the personal networking service. "My Web is the next step in integrating search and personal search with community by giving our users an easy way to have their own personal Web search experience, which incorporates what matters to them on the Internet, and allowing them to share that experience," Tim Mayer, director of Yahoo! Search, said. Using the beta's "Save to My Web" button on the new Yahoo! toolbar, users can save an existing Web page to their personal archive, which can be retrieved at any time by searching "My Web." With the searching new sharing feature, users can also add notes to saved pages in order to personalize and organize the stored files. Users will be able to create files that are shared by a community, and when updated by the user, will send the update via RSS feed to everyone in the group, explained Mayer. Yahoo! is offering an open API for the new application, which, according to a company release, enables developers to use Yahoo! data to create new products. "My Web" can also be accessed via the new beta version of the Yahoo! Toolbar.
Yahoo! Tuesday announced the appointment of former senior vice president of America Online broadband Shawn Hardin as vice president of content operations within the Yahoo! Media Group in Santa Monica, California. Hardin will join the company on May 2, the same day as former MSN executive Scott Moore, and together they will oversee a number of media sites within the group, under the direction of Lloyd Braun, head of the Yahoo! Media Group. "The Yahoo! media group is creating the primary place for consumers to discover, create, share, and enjoy these exciting new experiences, and I am thrilled to be part of the team making it happen," Hardin said in a statement. The appointment of Moore, and now Hardin, feeds speculation among industry watchers about Yahoo!'s intentions as a media content provider. Yahoo!, headed by former Warner Bros. co-chair Terry Semel, has made a number of moves signaling an interest in original content, including hiring Braun and announcing plans to set up shop in Santa Monica. Hardin, 43, left AOL in February, where he served as senior vice president of broadband. In this position, Hardin led development of the "AOL for Broadband" service experience, in addition to home networking business requirements, broadband advertising development, and the extension of the AOL broadband service "Beyond the PC." Hardin has broad experience in the areas of online entertainment and programming. He spent seven years working with NBC, where he served as executive vice president, chief product officer, and group general manager for NBC Internet. At NBC, Hardin was responsible for all product and programming, design and usability, and research. While at NBC Entertainment, Hardin, as vice president and executive producer of NBC Digital Productions, oversaw both online content and enhanced-television services. "Shawn's broad experience across the Internet, entertainment, film and television industries provides a unique perspective that will make him a valuable member of our management team," Lloyd Braun, former ABC Television chair, said in a statement. "His long-standing relationships and creative background are well-suited to helping Yahoo! be a valuable, innovative partner to media companies as we work to develop the next generation of online content."
Google this week rolled out a test program to serve ads into RSS feeds, the search giant confirmed Tuesday. The program debuted on Longhornblogs.com, a blog devoted to information about an upcoming version of Microsoft Windows. Robert McLaws, one of the authors at Longhornblogs.com, posted on the blog early Tuesday morning that the sites' RSS feeds were now including ads served via AdSense. Although McLaws said on his blog that he couldn't release many details, he stated that if Google decides to launch this product, AdSense publishers could expect to see a wider-reaching public beta within the next few weeks. On the other hand, McLaws wrote, the ads in the test feeds could be temporarily removed, or may be discontinued altogether. He did not respond to requests for comment from OnlineMediaDaily. In November, Yahoo! announced it was looking into serving RSS ads, and in February, the popular blog BoingBoing.net announced it was experimentally hosting ads in its RSS feeds through a partnership with Feedburner, an RSS and Atom syndication technology company, and Overture. Also in February, Kanoodle and Moreover announced a joint effort to create publisher tools for serving ads into RSS feeds.
Monster Worldwide, the parent of online classified site Monster.com, said Tuesday it is considering shedding its directional marketing business, which consists of a Yellow Pages advertising agency; direct marketing interactive business--including search engine optimization and management services; and direct response units. "Given our corporate strategy of focusing our energy and resources on growing the Monster franchise across key local, national, and global markets, we believe it is an appropriate time to evaluate strategic alternatives for our Directional Marketing business while considering what's in the best interests of our shareholders and other stakeholders," said company CEO Andrew J. McKelvey in a statement. Spokesman David Rosa added that the directional marketing business was "not a very good fit" with Monster's core job search business. "We looked at all of our companies across all of our services, to make sure that they were all feeding the monster, if you will." Monster's directional marketing arm accounted for 11 percent of the company's 2004 revenues, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although Monster's directional marketing businesses posted a $3.8 million profit last year, annual revenue decreased to $94.1 million, from $103.3 million 2003. The company attributed the loss to Yellow Pages directories closing--a trend it expected to continue through this year--and fewer Yellow Pages ad placements. Monster also reported Tuesday that first-quarter profits rose to 17 cents a share on total revenue of $246.9 million, up from 11 cents on revenue of $182.4 million a year ago.