Yahoo’s Search Monkey is released today. Not a moment too soon. My one word summary of what Yahoo needs to do to win: Open. Nothing new there, this is the rallying cry of Yahoo’s senior leaders. But perhaps I should add another word: Open faster.
Today Search Monkey, where developers can take Yahoo results and rejigger ’em, opens to the world. It’s a good idea. But it’s not enough.
I think Yahoo should be far more radical. Yahoo should let folks play behind the curtain. It’s one thing to give folks a feed of results and let them mash it up. It’s quite a different thing to let folks play with the machinery that produces the results.
No. Way. In. Hell….will Google ever let you do that.
Which is why Yahoo should.
Yep, Yahoo should open the entire works to the world. Let anyone tune the way results are proffered. Now that’s open.