Yahoo! Launches Shine Website for Women

A recent Pew Internet and American Life study indicates that while men are typically better early adopters of technology and more avid users of the internet generally, women are closing that gap. The study also shows that women use the web much more as a social and communications "network" than do men - valuing e-mail much more for personal connections than their male counterparts. And when it comes to searching the Internet for information, women tend to look more deeply on specific topics like health or fashion than men who search more broadly and rely more on aggressive search engine use.

In response to these trends, Shine -- and other sites like it such as Jezebel and iVillage - aggregate (either original or content provider) content on a number of topics ranging from Fashion to Food and Money to Entertainment.

In the case of Shine, the content ranges from blog-like posts by staff to full articles from content partners like Good Housekeeping and Self.

While the content seems rich and varied, there were several times I clicked into a Yahoo! vertical like Food or Health and couldn't get back to Shine without hitting the back button. An annoyance from a usability perspective and something they will likely address. A simple 'Return to Shine" banner should do the trick.

As these demographic trends continue, many content providers will need to consider how to reach women more effectively. A thoughtful examination of site content and its presentation will likely be central to that assessment.

Visit Shine at http://shine.yahoo.com