AOL Buys Q&A Search Site Yedda
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Written By Sepideh Saremi | November 12, 2007 | Share This
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AOL has acquired Yedda, a social question-and-answer start-up similar to Yahoo Answers. Mashable explains what Yedda does:
Yedda works by matching questions to other related questions and topics, while finding available users that are most likely to be able to answer the questions. This semantic matching technology will continually seek out matches for both ends of the spectrum, while allowing users to establish themselves as authorities on given topics.
This follows AOL’s purchase of contextual search network Quigo last week, making some bloggers wonder if AOL has a big, comprehensive strategy to unveil. Arnold Zafra at Search Engine Journal notes:
It looks like AOL is slowly building up its web infrastructure and preparing for someting big in the future. With two acquisitions in a row, makes me to start believing that Google maybe should pay close attention to what AOL is really up to.
Om Malik notes that the Yedda acquisition shows AOL recognizes its audience: “Q&A is about asking internet for help and getting it and given AOL’s mostly mainstream user base, this seems like a calculated bet by AOL.” It certainly fits into AOL’s portal mindset, keeping users on AOL sites as long as possible. However, it will be interesting to see how AOL plans to extend its reach and if, with all the ad-related company acquisitions, its starting to think more like a search engine.
In related news, Barry Diller today commented that IAC would be interested in buying AOL if Time Warner ever decides to part with it. In a Q&A with AdAge, Diller said:
We’ve talked over the years about our interest in AOL and never been able to get Time Warner to engage with us. I’ve always said AOL is great opportunity for somebody. When and if Warner doesn’t want it, I’ll certainly be at the door.
Topics: Investment, M&A, Semantic Web, Technology |