Search engine provider Yahoo! has announced the release of Yahoo! Buzz, an extension to its homepage.According to a company statement, the addition will open up Yahoo.com by bringing more "buzz-worthy" stories to it, as well as more interesting and relevant content from websites.
Currently in beta, Yahoo! Buzz measures search patterns and consumer votes to identify what it describes as "interesting and timely" videos and stories from both large news sources and niche blogs, giving them primary consideration for placement on Yahoo.com.
Based on their popularity, stories will be awarded a so-called "Buzz Score" and their selection to appear on Yahoo.com will be based on this, in much the same way that Digg users can vote for stories to be placed on the Digg homepage.
Commenting on the development, Jeff Weiner, executive vice president, of Yahoo! network division, stated: "Yahoo! Buzz is a good example of how we are continuing to innovate and open up our key starting points to third party publishers, making Yahoo! more socially and personally relevant for our half a billion consumers."
Meanwhile, Tapan Bhat, vice president of Yahoo!'s front doors and network services, added that the search engine provider is "building on the recent success of the homepage of Yahoo!" and improving on it by combining popular stories with "the wisdom of real people to determine what is most engaging and relevant".
Despite the uncertainty currently surrounding a possible deal with Microsoft, Yahoo! also recently announced the re-launch of its video site, describing the revamped Yahoo! Video as "far ahead of what most sites are offering".
