A Closer Look at Yahoo Shortcuts -
[Cached Version]
Published on: 11/1/2006
Last Visited: 11/19/2006
According to Director of Product Management, Mihir Shah, the purpose of Yahoo Shortcuts is to:
Provide direct answers in the resultsProvide useful vertical search contentProvide deep links into sites with relevant content
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I asked Mihir if all of Yahoo Shortcuts were technology driven or if there was any human involvement in the selection process.He told me it's based on technology, but editorial and user generated content is used to enhance the Shortcut experience.
"For news Shortcuts, for instance, the Yahoo News editorial team is leveraged to ensure that fresh topics are highlighted," he said.
As for the user generated content, Mihir explained "with local shortcuts you'll see stars indicating ratings and reviews which have been developed by our community.Movies are another example of this.For ,Departed 20007', the new movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jack Nicholson, and Matt Damon, the Shortcut returns local movie listings and a link to the trailer, but also ratings from Critics and Yahoo users."Additionally, photos from Flickr often show up as the Image Shortcut as opposed to just Yahoo Image Search results.Type in 'interesting pictures' and you're likely to get tagged photos from the Flickr community.
As for which Yahoo Shortcuts get the most usage, Mihir said it's the Local and Map Shortcuts.
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According to Mihir "The number one criteria is the user value.
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Of the few Shortcuts which Mihir and I discussed that didn't leverage Yahoo's content was the Gas Prices Shortcut (Gas Prices Stamford, CT) powered by Gas Buddy.
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Mihir also highlighted Yahoo Shortcuts' mobile connection, a feature neither Ask nor Microsoft discussed with me. Building on Yahoo's Mobile strategy and the vision of connecting PCs to mobile to TV, many of Yahoo Shortcuts can be accessed through a cell phone using SMS or by going to Yahoo.com on your phone's browser.