Shareowner Activism Wiki
Register
Advertisement

Yahoo! Kids (known as Yahooligans! until November 7? 2006 at 0:00 and Yahoo! Kids Beta until March 1?, 2009 at 0:00) was a public web portal provided by Yahoo! to find age appropriate online content for children between the ages of four and 12.

The website had been used for both educational and entertainment purposes. It was established in March 1?, 1996 by Yahoo! to give children a venue to find appropriate, safe Internet content. Yahoo! Kids was the oldest online search directory for children.

In April 31, 2013, Notice it changes Yahoo! Kids from Yahoo!.

History[]

Yahoo! Kids, originally known as Yahooligans!,[[|[1]]] was founded in March 1?, 1996 by Yahoo! to provide children with a venue to find appropriate, safe Internet content.[[|[2]]] The website was the oldest online search directory for children.[[|[3]]][[|[4]]][[|[5]]] The website's editors stated that Yahoo! Kids was "cool, goofy, fascinating, fun, hysterical, philosophical, surprising, sedate, silly, seismic, popular, obscure, useful, and interesting".[[|[3]]] In October 1999, The New York Times reporter Michelle Slatalla noted that Yahooligans! was a "heavily trafficked site", with 463,000 visitors accessing the website in August 1999.[[|[6]]]

In 2004, Yahoo! entered into a partnership with DIC Entertainment to establish Yahooligans! TV, which gave users access to DIC's 3,000 hours of animated children programs. DIC Entertainment president Brad Brooks stated that the partnership "offer[ed] advertisers a cross platform purchase".[[|[2]]] Yahoo! sold the ads and the revenue from the commercials was split between the two companies.[[|[7]]]

Content[]

The website was used for both educational and entertainment purposes.[[|[8]]] The Yahoo! Kids' portal had directories such as "Around the World", "Arts & Entertainment", "Computers & Games", "School Bell", "Science & Nature", and "Sports & Recreation".[[|[8]]] Under the directory "School-Bell", the category "Homework Answers" allowed children to access websites pertaining to school subjects such as geography, history, and math.[[|[9]]]

The homepage also displayed links to games, jokes, news, and sports. For the latter three, the content was crafted for those younger than 12.[[|[8]]] Games provided on the Yahoo! Kids website included Chinese checkers, Go Fish, and Checkers. Age-appropriate offsite games were also accessible via the links under the "games" tab.[[|[8]]] The website offered an instant messaging gadget that allows children to participate in live chats with notable people. Bill Clinton, J. K. Rowling, and Bill Nye the Science Guy had been been guests in the chats.[[|[8]]]

In March 2011, Yahoo! Kids partnered with the TV series Star Wars: The Clone Wars near the season's finale to have children pose questions to Chewbacca. Question submissions were posted on SurveyMonkey, and Yahoo! Kids posted Chewbacca's answers on March 28.[[|[10]]] The approximately three-minute long video consisted of Chewbacca pantomiming responses to queries such as "How do you deal with all that hair?"[[|[11]]]

Reviews[]

In June 2005, reviewer Gail Junion-Metz of the School Library Journal praised Yahooligans! Games, writing that it is "[o]ne of the best spots to find kid-appropriate games that don't require downloads".[[|[12]]] In a September 1998 review of the website, John Hilvert and Linda Bruce of PC User wrote that "Yahooligans is one of the best specialized engines, particularly for homework answers."[[|[13]]]

In July 2007, reviewer Holly Gunn of Teacher Librarian praised Yahoo! Kids for its helpful, comprehensible results but criticized it for an interface that had too many ads and that was "too busy and filled with too many diversions. Useful material is buried amidst entertainment".[[|[1]]]

Logo Timeline[]

March 1?, 1996-November 7?, 2006 at 0:00[]

Yahooligans logo
75978446





November 7?, 2006-March 1?, 2009 at 0:00[]

ThCAJGON6G

KIDS BETA







March 1? 2009-April 31, 2013 at 0:00[]

Yahoo-Kids-Logo






April 31, 2013-Present[]

ThCAFOAYZV






August 7, 2013-Present[]

Yahoo-logo-in-helvetica





Trivia[]

In February 2013, Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer told an investor conference that the company aimed to slash their approximately 60–75 products to about 12, increasing their attention on mobile device applications.[[|[15]]] In an April 19, 2013, blog post announcing Yahoo! Kids' closure, Yahoo! Executive Vice president of Platforms Jay Rossiter wrote: [W]e want to bring you experiences that inspire and entertain you every day. That means taking a hard look at all of our products to make sure they are still central to your daily habits. As part of that ongoing effort, today we are shutting down a few more products.[[|[16]]] He said that Yahoo! would redirect those resources to newer products like email and weather mobile applications.[[|[15]]]

Rossiter wrote that Yahoo!'s "youngest users" could continue using the company's services. Children younger than 13 could create a Yahoo! account through Yahoo!'s Family Accounts program. Young users could also find age-appropriate movies through the "Family Movies" section of "Yahoo! Movies".[[|[16]]]

References[]

Notes
  1. ^ [[|a]] [[|b]] Gunn, Holly (2007-07-01). "Searching the Web with Search Engines for Children". Teacher Librarian. Archived from the original on 2010-10-25. Retrieved 2010-10-25. 
  2. ^ [[|a]] [[|b]] DeMott, Rick (2004-03-19). "DIC Toons Online With Yahoo!". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2010-10-25. 
  3. ^ [[|a]] [[|b]] Pack, Thomas (2005-12-20). "Search Sites for Your Kids". TecTrends. 
  4. [[|^]] Sullivan, Danny (2005-04-04). "Kids Search Engines". Search Engine Watch. Archived from the original on 2010-10-25. Retrieved 2010-10-25. 
  5. [[|^]] [[|Whitley & Goodwin 2006]], p. xii
  6. [[|^]] Slatalla, Michelle (1999-10-07). "On-Line Help for Inquiring Young Minds". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2010-10-25. Retrieved 2010-10-25. 
  7. [[|^]] Bond, Paul (2004-03-18). "DIC Ent. teams for Yahooligans!". Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on 2010-10-25. Retrieved 2010-10-25. 
  8. ^ [[|a]] [[|b]] [[|c]] [[|d]] [[|e]] Jones, Karen (2000-11-02). "Nick, Yahooligans Offer Kid-Friendly Content". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2010-10-25. Retrieved 2010-10-25. 
  9. [[|^]] Colker, David (1996-03-26). "The Goods; 'Yahooligans!' Helps Keep Junior Net Surfers on Safe Turf". Los Angeles Times. 
  10. [[|^]] Jones, Jason B. (2011-03-13). "Ask Chewbacca a Question at Yahoo! Kids". Wired News. Archived from the original on 2012-05-12. Retrieved 2012-05-11. 
  11. [[|^]] Jones, Jason B. (2011-03-28). "Chewie Answers Clone Wars Questions at Yahoo! Kids". Wired News. Archived from the original on 2012-05-11. Retrieved 2012-05-11. 
  12. [[|^]] Junion-Metz, Gail (06 2005). "Yahooligans! Games (Review of yahooligans.yahoo.com)". School Library Journal (Reed Business Information) 51 (6): 68. 
  13. [[|^]] Hilvert, John; Bruce, Linda (09 1998). "Search engines compared". PC User 10 (9): 102. 
  14. [[|^]] Albanesius, Chloe (2013-04-19). "Yahoo Kids, Deals, More Getting the Boot". PC Magazine. Archived from the original on 2013-05-20. Retrieved 2013-05-20. 
  15. ^ [[|a]] [[|b]] MacMillan, Douglas (2013-04-19). "Yahoo Trims Product Lineup as Mayer Sharpens Focus on Mobile". Bloomberg.com. Archived from the original on 2013-05-20. Retrieved 2013-05-20. 
  16. ^ [[|a]] [[|b]] Rossiter, Jay. "Sharpening our focus – to bring you new Yahoo! products". Archived from the original on 2013-05-20. Retrieved 2013-05-20. 
Bibliography
  • Whitley, Peggy; Goodwin, Susan Williams (2006). 99 Jumpstarts for Kids' Science Research. Westport, Connecticut: Libraries Unlimited. ISBN 1-59158-261-X. 

Further reading[]

  • Newquist, Trini (2002). Yahooligans!: The Ultimate 2003 Kids Passport to the Web. San Val. ISBN 0-613-87258-4. 
  • Raucci, Richard; Crane, Elizabeth; Filo, David; Yang, Jerry (2002). Yahooligans!: Way Cool Web Sites. Foster City, California: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 0-7645-7002-1. 

External links[]

  • Yahooligans! on November 6, 2006 (from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine)
  • Yahoo! Kids on April 26, 2013 (from the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine)
Advertisement