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Marissa Mayer Rolls Out a New Yahoo.com

businessweek.com

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Re: Marissa Mayer Rolls Out a New Yahoo.com

#101

Post by danilocampos »

jwwest wrote: post #36

It's disappointing that Yahoo = Mayer now in the media. I'm sure that plenty of talented people spent a lot of time on this, only to have it sound like Marissa Mayer coded the whole damn thing herself.

Much as I hate to rain on someone else's sanctimonious parade, I think that the average Yahoo is more than happy to have a credible figurehead. Especially after the bean counting clowns who came before.

For one thing, it's at last possible for Yahoo to recruit decent talent again. That's largely a credit to Mayer's track record and her shuffling of the executive leadership.

They're getting food.

They're getting modern cell phones.

They're seeing progress in long-stagnant products.

Like it or not, Mayer is a substantial center of gravity in the product decisions of that company, and they really needed a product person. Giving her the headline is more than fair.

Re: Marissa Mayer Rolls Out a New Yahoo.com

#102

Post by TallGuyShort »

inerte wrote: post #88
TallGuyShort wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, but you get people saying Britney Spears released a new album and Ron Howard has a new movie coming out. It's not in all industries, but it's certainly not unique to Yahoo. Since Yahoo seems to be headed in the direction of being a media company, it almost makes even more sense.

Yes, I agree with you. I disagree with simias saying "not different from any other industry, ever".

I believe the presence of the comma between industry and ever is a subtle distinction. With a comma, it implies that no industry has ever been the same. Without it, it negates the implication that no industry has ever been the same.

Re: Marissa Mayer Rolls Out a New Yahoo.com

#103

Post by danilocampos »

bluethunder wrote: post #41

This is as long as Yahoo CEO's last. If this is all what she has to show for it, I'm guessing the search for the next has already begun. Riding the Google roller coaster can alter the hard realities for anyone. The heat is only felt where the rubber hits the road though.

The stock is up 34% since she took over.

So, nope.

Re: Marissa Mayer Rolls Out a New Yahoo.com

#104

Post by obstacle1 »

jrockway wrote: post #58
obstacle1 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a fluff piece aimed entirely at nontechnical readers. "Beautiful", "intuitive", "dynamic", "personalizable", and so on are exactly the words this audience wants to hear. They wouldn't understand anything more jargon-y and don't care how the site was built, they just want to know how they're going to feel while using it.

How can someone tell me what I will find beautiful or intuitive? It's buzzwords, not a meaningful reflection on the changes. People that aren't professional writers think that stringing positive-sounding words together in a way that is grammatically correct will result in a good sentence. The result is corporate speak. "The synergy of the positive verbiage results in a dynamic reading experience." No, it makes me wan…

>How can someone tell me what I will find beautiful or intuitive?

Nobody can. But when a press release says a product is beautiful and intuitive, it at least invites you to go use the product and judge for yourself.

>It's buzzwords, not a meaningful reflection on the changes.

Beautiful, fresh, and intuitive aren't buzzwords in the same sense that synergistic, disruptive, etc. are. Beauty, freshness, and intuition are ancient aesthetic concepts that speak to instincts in, dare I say, all humans. When I hear that something is beautiful, that is an invitation for me to go judge said thing's beauty. As such, I'd argue that describing a new product as beautiful, intuitive, or something similar is an equally meaningful description as listing technical specs driving a change.

>People that aren't professional writers think that stringing positive-sounding words together in a way that is grammatically correct will result in a good sentence. The result is corporate speak.

As someone who has written copy professionally (and still sometimes does) I disagree with you on a number of levels. Strings of positive-sounding but effectively meaningless words absolutely are effective for selling and persuading. On the other hand strings of meaningful and unambiguous words often don't convert. Note that we don't sell consumer products by using instruction manuals as ads, and we don't drive massive traffic by describing the mechanics behind a site.

Even Rails, a technical "product", advertises itself by claiming to facilitate the writing of "beautiful" code.

Re: Marissa Mayer Rolls Out a New Yahoo.com

#105

Post by jiggy2011 »

venomsnake wrote: post #92
eqreqeq wrote: post #75

I know this may not be appropriate but wow is she cute [1] and hot [2] at the same time. And on top of that she is brilliant, regardless of how her gig with Yahoo! turns out. Which makes her even more attractive. [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Marissa_Mayer.jpg [2] http://www.glamour.com/images/women-of-the-year/1103-marissa...

Calling someone in their 30-s that you are not into intimate relationship with or hitting on them cute is indeed inappropriate. Also her looks are irrelevant - they won't help her save the company and many of yahoo shareholders will gladly kiss Medusa if she able to increase the share price 3 fold. I am much more worried that there is not much of her brilliance shown yet. The new yahoo homepage, while improvement doe…

It's probably good for PR to have an attractive woman in an important position, especially in a tech company.

The press like publishing pictures of attractive people.

I'd wager more people have heard of Mayer than sergey brin for example.

Re: Marissa Mayer Rolls Out a New Yahoo.com

#107

Post by Andrex »

adorable wrote: post #91
Andrex wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can't find any evidence of frame or iframes on yahoo.com, what are you referring to?

I guess he refers to the search bar at the top and the left navigation menu that remain fixed when scrolling (i.e. acting like frames even though it's just css / js)

That's even weirder because that's better for user experience.

Re: Marissa Mayer Rolls Out a New Yahoo.com

#109

Post by inerte »

TallGuyShort wrote: post #102
inerte wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I agree with you. I disagree with simias saying "not different from any other industry, ever".

I believe the presence of the comma between industry and ever is a subtle distinction. With a comma, it implies that no industry has ever been the same. Without it, it negates the implication that no industry has ever been the same.

I see. As a non-native english speaker, I guess I read it wrong.
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