Los Angeles, July 01: Applying a popular feature from retail Web sites to the search for love, Yahoo Inc. on Monday said its "personals" site can now introduce members to people they might like based on how their preferences stack up against others. A search on Yahoo's personals site will now guide members who click on an individual listing to a link to other broadly similar members based on a profile generated by a new Yahoo computer programme it calls the "affinity engine."
The programme, which tracks and categorizes member preferences, generates a link called "people who like this person also liked these people."
The programme is similar to recommendation engines on retail sites, like the feature on Amazon.com Inc.'s site that offers a list of other items that buyers of a particular book or CD also purchased.
The new technology enhances what has become one of Yahoo's most important subscription services. Over the last two years, Yahoo has worked to diversify its revenue stream beyond online advertising into premium services like dating, job searches, enhanced e-mail, and streaming multimedia.
Bureau Report