Ya-WOO

Yahoo are launching their new search strategy, called 'WOO' or Web Of Objects. They summise that "people don't really want to search, they want to get things done".

In the above video Head of Yahoo Search Strategy Prabhakar Raghavan explains the web and mobile strategy to us while being questioned by Kara Swisher from Boomtown. She asks some good questions but I have to admit i'm still a little unclear as to exactly what it's going to look like.

It seems to be that the engine will interpret the query into relevant information that the user "really wants" and deliver results based on that.

To use the stated example, if someone searches for 'Star Trek' how does it interpret whether they are looking for cinema times or in depth information?... Well, it seems the results will return a blend of interpretations of the query. (er... doesn't the universal search page on Google do that already?)

I'm going to reserve judgement until it's up and running, but the big question is will the consumer be willing to switch and will it increase their market share?