Yahoo Local Gets Social
Search Engine Watch reports that Yahoo is adding user generated content (UCG) to its local search tools. The feature is called Consumer Submit and it allows consumer to add notes to business listings on Yahoo Local.
Last month, Yahoo added another user-generated content feature to Local, Consumer Submit. That feature allows users to add or edit a business listing, updating contact information, store hours, or identifying businesses that are no longer open. The modifications do not change the listing permanently, but appear as notes that can be reviewed by others, who can agree or disagree and build a consensus on the accuracy of the information.LocalMN Blog provides another explanation of Consumer Submit including a graphic showing how it works. It should help make listing on Yahoo Local more useful. Yahoo's Local blog has more information about the new feature. You can also find more blog posts about the new feature here, here, here and here.
User-generated content has always been at the core of some other local search products, as well as social networking/directory hybrids such as InsiderPages, Judysbook and Yelp. IAC's Citysearch has long featured ratings and reviews, and added more social search features last year. That content is now featured more prominently in Ask.com's search results and in its new AskCity local search product.
Yahoo views these features as "social utilities" that harness the always-present offline word-of-mouth that friends and neighbors use to find a contractor, pick a restaurant, or choose a mechanic, Miller said.
Posted on January 11, 2007
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