Yahoo! Search Introduces 'Grassroots Journalism' to News Search; News Search Expands to Include Blogs, Flickr Photos and My Web Links, Giving Consumers a Single Source for Mainstream and Grassroots Media

Business Wire, Oct 11, 2005

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced that Yahoo! Search is beta testing a new version of Yahoo! News Search which now includes blogs, Flickr photos and My Web links, available today at http://news.search.yahoo.com. The move to augment professional journalism with grassroots journalism signals Yahoo!'s commitment to fusing mainstream content with user-generated content to give consumers a more complete search experience.

"Yahoo! is focused on giving consumers the most relevant and timely information available about the news topics that interest them," said Neil Budde, general manager, Yahoo! News. "Our expanded news search dramatically increases the consumer's ability to find events that matter to them, from major news stories, citizen reporting, commentary, and pictures that might not be covered by the mainstream media."

Beginning today, when a user conducts a search on Yahoo! News they will receive mainstream news stories along with blogs. When a user clicks on "all blog results" they will receive Flickr photo thumbnails and My Web links on the right hand side of the search results page. By incorporating grassroots journalism from all around the globe into News Search results, consumers can now enjoy opinions, analysis and commentary, via blogs, and related photos from the Flickr community that provide a visual context to breaking news as reported by everyday people. In addition, the new My Web feature, Yahoo!'s new social search engine that harnesses the collective knowledge of the My Web community, provides relevant links to information related to the news topic.

"The addition of grassroots news sources into Yahoo! News Search is another example of Yahoo! using world-class technology to deliver relevant content to our audiences," said Joff Redfern, director of product at Yahoo! Search. "Yahoo! News has become the leading online news destination by continually providing the most comprehensive service to our users, and news search technology is a critical piece of our overall news offering."

Content publishers interested in adding their blog as a source to Yahoo! News Search beta can go to http://publisher.yahoo.com/submit.php. Yahoo! will continue to expand upon the News Search beta features and work with consumers and the grassroots journalism community to improve upon the capabilities.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! seeks to provide online products and services essential to users' lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.