Summary
Does Yahoo! understand their brand? What is it? How do they fix it? The biggest problem with Yahoo! acquiring a social networking platform is figuring how would they brand it. This is a company, who's primary function is to sell advertising, but they are guilty of getting complacent with their own brand.
Analysis
Yahoo! used to be the leading entertainment portal on the web. Aligned so much with entertainment, even its brand would advertise through entertainment (as Yahoo! has been a long time Davie-Brown Entertainment client). It was perhaps the only the portal to actively use entertainment to draw users. Now, after staking out that position in the market, they've failed completely to leverage there core competency in Entertainment.
This becomes highly relevant in regards to social networking. If Yahoo! is no longer the entertainment brand they built themselves to be - how does Yahoo! extend itself through a social network?
Can Yahoo! take advantage of a social networking platform - yes, but only if they recommit themselves to entertainment. Social networking is a natural extension of that.
