Yahoo! tells Digg and Reddit to Buzz off

Davey Winder
Wednesday, 20 August 2008 17:53

Your IT - Home IT

The power of the Yahoo! brand is at the heart of the Buzz attraction, not least because as well as counting the number of users who Buzz Up a news item, Yahoo! also factors in search engine popularity when determining which stories make the front page.

The trouble is, not everyone is happy with the buzz surrounding Buzz. Some are suggesting that the route to traffic nirvana might not be automatic, claiming that Yahoo! is vetting content before it gets to the coveted top spot.

If that is true, then it could have major implications for Buzz as far as smaller online publications are concerned. In fact, as far as everyone involved is concerned.

During the Beta phase, for example, it has been reported that sites had to be signed up to the Yahoo! advertising network rather than Google AdSense, for example. Which does lead to the obvious question of whether such affiliations will have any impact upon the ability for a story to march onto the Yahoo! front page or not?

Considering that it is this opportunity to hit the Yahoo! home page, and score a traffic home run, that really differentiates Buzz from Digg and Reddit, we have to hope that the answer is negative. As of yet, Yahoo! has been somewhat backwards in coming forward with a definitive answer...