SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in Smartbrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. Paul Chaney, Internet marketing director for Bizzuka and member of the SmartBrief on Social Media Advisory Board, helps create the questions and analyzes the results. We run the poll question each Wednesday in our e-newsletter and feature Paul’s analysis on this blog.
Last week’s poll question: Now that it is official and Bing will power Yahoo! search, effectively making Yahoo! the second-largest search engine in the U.S., do you agree or disagree that this is a positive business strategy for Yahoo! and Microsoft?
- Very positive move 49.%
- Even with the merger, it won’t be a threat to Google, so a nonissue 37%
- Microsoft and Yahoo! should have maintained their individuality and not merged 7%
- No opinion 6%
“Yahoo! ceased to be a search-engine company years ago, opting instead to become a media conglomerate. Search is not the reason it continues to be the second-most-visited site on the Internet. Actually, let me rephrase that. Search is precisely the reason it continues to be the second-most-trafficked site — in that it abandoned that ground long ago to Google, the No. 1 site.
It’s not a slight on Yahoo’s reputation, just an admission that there’s no need to try and be something they are not. This merger will benefit both companies and free Yahoo! to continue its dominance as a media power.” –Paul Chaney