Yahoo! opens up homepage with Buzz system

by Jacquie Bowser, Brand Republic 26-Feb-08, 12:20

LONDON - Yahoo! is launching a new service that ranks the most popular content on the web, according to consumer votes and search popularity, and places the highest rating content on its homepage for users to view.

Yahoo! Buzz, which is currently in trial phase, can highlight any content from participating publishers, such as major news events, intriguing videos or interesting blog posts and feature them directly on Yahoo.com.

Participating publishers are given a "badge" that allows readers to vote and submit stories to Buzz in real-time.

The content is given a "Buzz Score", which is dependent on a measurement of consumer votes and search patterns. Stories with the highest Buzz Scores will be highlighted via direct links to the publishers' sites and submitted to Yahoo!'s editors for possible coverage on the Yahoo! homepage.

Yahoo! has signed up 100 publishers for the trial, ranging from large brands to small, influential blogs, but the internet giant is hoping to open up to all publishers interested in having their content included on its site.

The company said the service builds on the openness initiative it launched last year in which editors began highlighting third-party content from across the web in the "Featured Today" section on Yahoo.com.

As the Buzz service evolves, the company said it will form the basis for an open ecosystem of publishers, advertisers and consumers, which will offer syndication and revenue opportunities.