Wow Yahoo
So I was checking out Alexa’s Movers and Shakers today to scope out some design trends, and what do I discover but del.icio.us is the number one mover up. Apparently it’s recent enough that Alexa hasn’t realized their link to it is broken… they assume every web address starts with www. I type in it’s real address and lo and behold, del.icio.us is pretty! They’ve been around for a while now (they’re like 8 in dog-years) and I was impressed that something so useful could remain techy and simple and un-beautiful for so long.
What happened? Did their management get taken over by someone who cares about marketing? Yep, a quick click to their blog reveals that Yahoo! snatched’em up. Makes sense; they’re already doing exactly what Yahoo has publicly stated is their strategy for MyWeb 2.0 — rather than having Google (or Yahoo) tell you what’s good on the internet, ask your friends. Also not surprising given their ties with Flickr, which Yahoo grabbed earlier this year.
In related news, the internet may never be for sale, but the entire web is for rent. What would you do with every page out there? I want a directed graph of it, but that’s just a start. I might also want to sue someone for copyright infringement ;)