I am pleased to announce that it appears that Yahoo! owned up to the communicative gaffes of Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo!, Inc. and that the Associated Press updated its information. Apparently, on May 18, 2010 Carol Bartz did report to the Associated Press that it was Yahoo!’s intention to turn off the Associated Content website sometime in the third quarter after the acquisition was complete. However, on May 19, 2010 Yahoo! Spokeswoman, Dana Lengkeek clarified the official Yahoo! position. She is quoted as saying: “that the company won’t close Associated Content’s website but may rebrand it instead. The company also plans to integrate its content throughout the Yahoo websites.” The full article as reported by Michael Liedtke, AP Technology Writer can be found here: Yahoo Buys Freelance News Site Associated Content.
Though some people may wonder what the words “may rebrand” will ultimately come to mean, this new verbiage should settle the tides for now. However, I am no less troubled by the words “at this point” and the language about communicating changes, pertaining to content location or re-location that appear at the following link: http://i.acdn.us/siteimg/yahoo_faq.html that I quoted in Associated Content Served Yahoo! Style: Part 2. For those of you that missed that segment, I will quote again.
“Where will my content be published?”
Content will continue to be published at www.associatedcontent.com at this point. Specific assignments may be published to different sites and or partners – check your assignment details for this info. As always, we will communicate any changes we make to the location or re-location of your content assets.”
I will admit that I am a bit disappointed that Associated Content Co-Founder and President Luke Beatty to the best of my knowledge could offer no more than a casual tweet that seemed a tad bit condescending: His tweet goes like this: “@Gregoriancant AC is not closing! The DEAL is closing in the 3rd quarter – not the site!!!!! Sheesh! PLS RT”
I am not sure what he means by, “Sheesh!” The reality is that Yahoo! CEO, Carol Bartz misspoke to the Associated Press on May 18, 2010. The Associated Press then published her comments. It wasn’t until May 19, 2010 that Yahoo! clarified her comments. In the interim, many Associated Content contributors had read the original Associated Press article and were confused and alarmed. It seems unfortunate, unsympathetic and inconsiderate that the contributors, the very life blood of Associated Content were brushed off with a “Sheesh” from their President. However, perhaps there is a more formal communication that I missed. If that is the case, I will soon be donning my fools attire.
I am pleased to report that just before going to the presses with this article, Luke Beatty recently tweeted the following message: “I am so proud of our contributors. As Yahoo contributors they’re now creating content for the web’s biggest, most established media company.”
Originally published on Associated Content / Yahoo Contributor Network (YCN) on May 19, 2010
Note: Edited to consistently use the ! in Yahoo!’s official name, unless referencing a source that does not use that punctuation mark.
© Copyright, Han Van Meegerin – All Rights Reserved
Associated Content Served Yahoo! Style: Part-4
Associated Content Served Yahoo! Style: Part-5
Associated Content Served Yahoo! Style Part-2
Associated Content Served Yahoo! Style
Han Van Meegerin
