How to Save Yahoo in 3 Easy Steps

With Verizon‘s new acquisition of Yahoo, the question now is laid before the executives and board of Verizon:

I will say that Marissa Mayer has made quite an effort. The acquisition of Tumblr was a tremendous idea as was the increasing in video with Katie Couric.

The key is this, Yahoo has to be: 1 part news network, 1 part tv network, 1 part social media company.

Yahoo needs to focus on being a one stop shop that aggregates content, optimizes for local news and partners with various affiliates to bring the experience to everyday life. Google is ubiquitous and their products touch every part of people’s lives. For Yahoo that means becoming that for people. Bringing together things like maps, shopping, email, and social in one place makes Yahoo the one-stop shop that would really move the needle in people’s lives. Verizon may want to look around the world of social media and decide what they might want to acquisition next to complement their deal with Yahoo (Remember Ello? What about Pinterest?). Leveraging the dynamism of the tumblr platform is something that hasn’t really been done. Offering a new place for people to express themselves and create community outside of Facebook can also be a mover if it is combined with other Yahoo products. Why have a direct messaging system that isn’t based on Yahoo mail? Why not be able to mark oneself safe on your tumblr in a disaster. Yahoo can create tumblr search to be integrated with yahoo search and sell ads around that. Don’t just serve up content from the Tumblr network, bring the internet to the door  of the user from one platform. Yahoo can also create shareability. Many tumblr blogs are based on products and shopping. Create a shopping interface where people can blog about products from Yahoo’s shopping platforms and suddenly fashion blogs on tumblr are generating revenue for the company (and you can incentivize the bloggers too!). Tumblr is a lost opportunity in terms of content as well. Many great content companies are also on Tumblr and in a similar way Medium has invited those partners in, Yahoo needs to do the same. Yahoo could make a tremendous play in video to rival Youtube but that requires an open platform and tons of traffic.  More customization, social sharing, email integration, and services integration would woo potential content creators and advertisers. Prioritizing this content in Yahoo search (across all platforms) would drive the tremendous traffic on Yahoo towards content within the Yahoo eco-system. Once that ecosystem is created then Yahoo can leverage the investment in video to create a media environment that would be engaging and around which products and ads can be placed which not only generates revenue but cements the “1 part” idea that I think will be successful for Yahoo in the future.

Step 1: Fire Marissa Mayer (we can cross that off the list)

Nothing more to be said, I seriously doubt that she would welcome the kind of change that would be best for Yahoo.

Yahoo has tremendous traffic and various assets but they are hard to interact with. Moving all the media onto the tumblr platform and then integrating with creators and offering video opportunities within the existing network begins to create an ecosystem people will use in their everyday lives which is the holy grail. The only way to make all these assets work is to make them work together so the user can use all of them seemlessly. People need to be able to start a chat, send a message, buy a product, hail a car, and find out about local news all without leaving Yahoo. This is completely possible.

This means that every app, every experience, and every website gets a complete top down overhaul. Nothing is considered legacy. Question everything and start over. The new integrations will require back end work to make happen and that is the kind of change that Yahoo needs. The whole experience needs to be rethought. One-stop logins (like Google and Microsoft) alongside preferences of interests and products will make Yahoo a tremendous resource not only for information but for shopping, local news, and video.

It always seems so simple doesn’t it?