Web 2.0 Con: Terry Semel, CEO, Yahoo

John Batelle interviewed Terry Semel for of the most anticipated Day 2 sessions.
From Chris Law’s notes: “You need to have technology, content and distribution. 400 million users is distribution. Content is what Yahoo is all about. Technology is key. The days of being just a technology company or media company are over. You need to be both.”

On moving into the media space: Yahoo does content and content can be created by users, by partners, by creating the framework. As for being a news organization, Semel said 99 percent of Yahoo’s news is aggregated.

On China:”400 million people using cell phones and devices. You are better off playing by the rules. Part of the process is to expose people to the Western way. We can’t automatically tell them to stick it. It was better for us to be there and hold them to the letter of their law.”

On Google: Google as a portal would rank #4. Good technology company. Trying to become a portal. Don’t seem to have a real plan but maybe magic will happen tomorrow.

On user-gen content: “We want to encourage and enable people to share and create on Yahoo. Let them do what they want to do. They want to let advertisers attach to their content so they get paid. … I don’t think old media is going to be where people spend most of their time.”

Jeff Jarvis was not impressed. (I’m so surprised.): “He says media companies should look to Yahoo as a distribution platform. That is very much Semel’s strategy: He’s trying to build Time Warner without the shackles of its heritage and deals. So Yahoo is very much a Media 1.0 company: It’s all about content and distribution.”

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