Yahoo! Local has launched its first complete update in two years – or before the user generated content revolution really kicked in. The new update was in the works before new GM Jennifer Dulski got on board, and makes a good site even better. But it is largely an evolutionary step, rather than a revolutionary step. Company officials say there are no plans to promote Yahoo! Local’s update/relaunch outside of Yahoo’s own universe.
The relaunch’s primary purpose is to leverage the best aspects in User Generated Content (UGC) into Yahoo! Local’s already excellent integration of maps, listings and reviews. The new version, for instance, continues the conversation by letting users comment on reviews. It also lets people easily upload photos or virtual life avatars – although Yahoo thinks the addition of avatars is going to be a fringe feature – or “a mid-step.”
Other features include home page cityscapes (with weather) for 20 cities. these are not dissimilar to cityscapes recently introduced by Superpages (and in some cities, CitySearch). Another major feature is the “Weekender” content mashup that could be marketed as a unique product in itself – but probably won’t. The site also boosts the local algorithms for better searchability.
My Kelsey colleague Mike Boland has a comprehensive rundown on the site, complete with screenshots. But for The Local Onliner, I wanted to focus on the conversation that Mike and I had with lead product manager Brian Gil.
A five year veteran of Yahoo! Local, Gil says he believes that Yahoo is differentiated from Yelp and other review sites that often get more attention for the Internet intelligentsia by its “homeowner demographic” that skews older than bar-and restaurant-oriented sites. Yahoo! Local users have “complex” needs for information about potential purchases – and Yahoo’s wide assortment of tools and services are positioned to help them, he says.
In my view, there’s certainly something to that. But it’s a funny thing to think of Yahoo as some kind of Internet Oldsmobile. In local, at least, the “Oldsmobile” keeps on doing all the right things.