Yahoo! does 2.0 well. Well, they’re good at snapping up successful 2.0 companies anyhow (Flickr, del.icio.us). Yahoo! does seem to have a way of bringing new technology to the masses though.

Take My Yahoo! for instance… It’s basically an RSS aggregator. It’s widely popular with tech and non-tech folks alike. They found a way to make RSS useable and accessible to everyone. And it works.

While Google seems to be focused on technology for technology’s sake, Yahoo! is moving toward becoming a true one-stop portal with a 2.0 twist. Although this does raise some privacy concerns, it presents a lot of interesting ideas about ways to use and integrate communities online.

Yahoo! has announced their latest 2.0 element with updates to their Yahoo! Travel product. Yes, Yahoo! Travel, it seems, will be going through yet another update…

From Motley Fool:

Forget those “wish you were here” postcards — now you can get a better idea of other people’s travels, on a much wider, more detailed scale. According to Motley Fool Rule Breakers pick CNET, Yahoo! Trip Planner will now let users share their travel journals with others, and view interactive maps of other people’s trips. It’s also integrating Trip Planner into its main search site. Furthermore, MasterCard’s helping out with a sponsorship and a co-branded site of its own.

Combine this with Yahoo’s other services and it seems like it could be a really cool tool. Will it be useable, accessible AND practical though?

I’m not sure that travelers see any value yet… Maybe when the MySpace crowd are planning exotic family vacations… but today’s travelers may be a bit more skeptical to the benefits of social networking online. Read Scoble’s piece: Sorry, I don’t do Social Networks anymore (be sure to read through the comments as well) for a view on how lots of us view social networks.

Will Yahoo! Trip Planner be cool? Yes! Will I use it? eh…

Deluxe Travel Plans at Yahoo! [Fool.com: Motley Fool Take] July 10, 2006

update- Here is Yahoo’ official Blog entry on Trip Planner:

Yahoo! Travel Update: Trip Planner Goes GA


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