Yahoo Planning to Add 100 Web Sites for Entertainment at the New York Times reports that Yahoo is undertaking a new microsite effort named “Brand Universe.”
Brand Universe will create about 100 web sites built around entertainment brands and pull together content from various Yahoo properties. One such site for the Nintendo Wii can be seen here, which pulls in Flickr photos, links from Delicious, content from Yahoo Answers and more.
Yahoo sees the effort as a way to “connect the dots” of content from various brands in its various properties.
Yahoo views the effort as a way to track the brands “appeal” within Yahoo’s vast user network, and share the data with the brands — as well as possibly ad revenue. However, the company is not seeking permission from brand owners before building these sites. Instead, it says it won’t proceed with them if brand owners object.
Related Topics: Yahoo: Brand Universe
This at first glance seems like a convenience for users, but I am getting a faint feeling of ’1984′coming into 2007- I get an uneasy feeling about the “appeal” of the brands being tracked by Yahoo’s “vast user network.” I think there are enough arenas for those with similar interests to communicate and turn one another on to products and ideas.
Very recently, I wrote 4C: Yahoo’s Turnaround Formula, criticizing them for having haphazard offerings with no segmentation.
This announcement addresses some of my points, in that they are actually tying together various disjointed and haphazard properties around a particular brand, and creating an integrated experience.
I like it.