Yahoo! launched a new site targeting women on Monday. The web site, named “Shine”, will feature original blog posts and content from major publishing companies like Hearst, Conde Nast and Time.
Shine is Yahoo’s latest venture in vertical sites, which would include the famous Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, Yahoo! Sports and Entertainment as well as Yahoo Green and Yahoo Tech. Yahoo’s Shine is the first web site that targets a specific audience, women.
“Yahoo aims to be the top destination site in the lifestyle category,” said Amy Iorio, general manager at Yahoo! Lifestyle.
“Women as a demographic is a good target, particularly given the number of women who use Yahoo! (40 million women between ages 25 to 54 each month) and given the fact that females tend to blog more than males. This is really a key audience for Yahoo! We’ve been calling them ‘chief household officers’ internally,” Iorio adds.
Shine’ is a hybrid site, with articles and original blogs coming from a wide range of sources, including InStyle, Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Women’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Style.com, Epicurious.com and Harper’s Bazaar.
Shine’s editor-in-chief Brandon Holley, former editor in chief of Jane magazine, along with eight editors are overseeing several sections for the site, such as parenting, fashion, home, career and culture. Yahoo’s efforts in doing original content have not been panned out, but Shine readers will be able to start their own blogs. Some users’ content, if deemed worthy, may also end up as a featured content in various sections of the site.
Users can also get their Yahoo! Mail on Shine and integration of Yahoo Search, Astrology, Food and Health is possible. Other integrations like Yahoo Answers and Yahoo Messengers are possible to be applied.
“The site will compete with iVillage and fashion- and celebrity-news heavy Glam.com, but its content partners and editors will set it apart. Shine will distinguish itself by having more of an editorial voice than the other sites and by interacting more with readers,” Holley said.
Shine’s front page is clean and light on ads, at least, during its first day of launch. The site is up at http://shine.yahoo.com
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