In recent article (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/20/technology/20yahoo.html) by The New York Times (published on April 20, 2005) that talks about how Yahoo! beat Wall Street expecations by A LOT for sales and earnings, I found a point made that I want to bring it up for discussion:
Yahoo reported that 372 million people visited its network of sites in the quarter, up 36 percent from a year ago. Yahoo asserts that 13 percent of time spent online is spent on its search, e-mail and other services.What are your thoughts to this?

To me the figure sounds low. I would have guessed that much more time online would go towards e-mail in particular. What are they all doing? I know we spend our time online differently from the normal user population, but I still think 15-20% of my time is spent on e-mail alone!

I have a feeling Yahoo! isn't going to release where the largest amount of time spent online was - especially for that always critical "18-35" male demographic...

I don't have a New York Times account (and no desire to tell yet another publishing empire my personal information) so I haven't read the article in question - so please forgive me if my interpretation is out of context.

I read that statement as saying that 13% of ALL internet use worldwide happens on Yahoo's properties. If that's the claim, it's a HUGE number. Almost unbelievable.

Ian

I don't have a New York Times account (and no desire to tell yet another publishing empire my personal information) so I haven't read the article in question - so please forgive me if my interpretation is out of context.

I read that statement as saying that 13% of ALL internet use worldwide happens on Yahoo's properties. If that's the claim, it's a HUGE number. Almost unbelievable.

Ian
:) I believe your interpretation of the quotation's meaning is correct. The above posting appear to be based on very hasty readings as I think the sentence is very straight forward. Thirteen percent of ALL internet use time accures to Yahoo. That's actually a very believable percentage, I think, as Yahoo has assembled a really interesting and useful set of features and services. And a comparison of the news features, along, simply belongs to Yahoo--which administers its own news assemblies as well as offering a wide variety of professional organizations such as French Press Agency. What is every more compeling is that Yahoo has comment boards that have huge participation. Google's on the other hand comes from some contractor and has NO comment boards at all, and the selection of sources is pretty dismal.

I think Yahoo is definitely winning the battle.

I read that statement as saying that 13% of ALL internet use worldwide happens on Yahoo's properties.Incorrect. That statement claims .... 13% of ALL internet usage in Yahoo! properties happens on SEARCH.

I think Yahoo is definitely winning the battle.
Which battle? Is it:

number of registered users
control of personal information
time spent online on their properties
revenues
profits (at least not 2005 Q1 - Google nailed that BIG time!)
search volume
search volume per user
content
innovation
and the list could go on and on . . .

Incorrect. That statement claims .... 13% of ALL internet usage in Yahoo! properties happens on SEARCH.

Goodness! "search (comma) email ("and: with implied comma unless you are British in which case you add a comma in addition to the "and") OTHER services. Three elements--inclusive, I believe of everything that Yahoo offers. I see no way that a person can stop reading at the word "search" and think that is the end of the thought (sentence). I have to ask you--of what then are the rest of the words in the sentence--just baggage to fill out the line?

I think I regret offering the above comment if the reading skills are this dismal here.

Which battle? Is it:

number of registered users
control of personal information
time spent online on their properties
revenues
profits (at least not 2005 Q1 - Google nailed that BIG time!)
search volume
search volume per user
content
innovation
and the list could go on and on . . .

None and/or all of the above (except perhaps profits as I only know that Yahoo too is profitable). I base my remark on perceived audience presence and that, in the final measure, is what is going to count. Yahoo has an overall superior offering package and that will bring the traffic and the ad clicks. Yes, Google is the preferred search engine right now but only because Yahoo uses it in its own present search engine and most people know that. Yahoo, however, will soon introduce its own search engine and when it does, I'll shift from the goo-goo-googly eyes. With Google, the paid responses are so numerous that I automatically jump to page five before reading the pages presented to my search request. :p

You're correct the statement does read:
13 percent of time spent online is spent on its search, e-mail and other services.I think I wrote a bit too fast and missed the other two. I apologize.

Yes, Google is the preferred search engine right now but only because Yahoo uses it in its own present search engine and most people know that. Yahoo, however, will soon introduce its own search engine and when it does, I'll shift from the goo-goo-googly eyes.
Sorry James, but Yahoo! has their own search technology since February 2004. That was the news (http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/article.php/3314171) about 14 months ago.

I think I read correctly about Yahoo's work on a search engine. This whole thing feels too much like one of Yahoo's rant boards. I have better use for my time as this board doesn't provide me any insights, only the opportunity to read social and PC opinions. Best of luck here. 'Bye

Jim,

I think you have it all wrong. This is not a rant board at all. As per our FAQ's (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/faq.php?faq=vb_faq), this forum welcomes you and welcomes all.

As per the quote for the article:Yahoo reported that 372 million people visited its network of sites in the quarter, up 36 percent from a year ago. Yahoo asserts that 13 percent of time spent online is spent on its search, e-mail and other services.The intent to starting this thread was to discuss if you or anyone feels that is a big or a small number (as it shows in its title). I personally think this number is fenomenal because it means there is SO MUCH more to grow on. The Internet is still small, search is still small and that's what is so exciting to me. I love this industry, I love Yahoo! and Google very much! This thread is not a Yahoo! vs. other search engines thread. It's about potential. It's about growth. It's about opportunities.
this board doesn't provide me any insights, only the opportunity to read social and PC opinions.I invite you to dig a bit more into our 4,725+ threads and 42,806+ posts. I know, because I go up and down the scroll bar on these boards just about every day and 4,211+ members bring SO MUCH value and insights to these outstanding new and up to date discussions on the SEM industry. Again, welcome and we all hope you stay.

I think I read correctly about Yahoo's work on a search engine.
If you mean this from the NYT article:

Over the rest of the year, Yahoo will introduce a series of activities meant to expand its fee income, said Terry Semel, Yahoo's chief executive. It will introduce a new music service and will vastly expand the services it offers through mobile telephones, especially outside of the United States.


OK, that's work on new stuff in the vertical area. But the main partnership they had with Google was for web search results. That was dissolved last year when Yahoo unveiled its own search technology and booted Google.

Has it been determined whether we are talking about 13% of online users time is spent their Yahoo, or 13% of Yahoo users spend their time on search and email?

I would interpret that as the latter. 13% in my opinion is low, but that also needs to be weighed by what yahoo's goals are. If the goal is to get more yahoo users spending their time on search and email, then its definitely low. If the goal is to get them into other areas of yahoo, then that 13% could be OK for them.