It seems that to become a cybermillionaire, one of the vips of cyberspace, you have to meet 3 requirements: be young, have invented something when you were even younger and have started your career in your garage at home, in a room or in a a small classroom using the university computers. Jerry Yang, alma mater of Yahoo !, turns three.
“In the world of the Internet – he says – some things happen the other way around than in the real world. For cybernetic issues, young people have much more experience than older people. From the first time you go online you realize that which is something that future generations will understand better than you. This phenomenon is especially evident in the United States, where computing is very present in schools, universities and at all levels of education. business, youth is also an added value. Young people care less about taking risks, we have less to lose and that spirit is very useful in the online business adventure. “
–What does Yahoo! that other search engines don’t have?
-First, that we are a global service. We have offers for companies and users in 14 different languages and an infinity of countries, which means that any local company can find its space here. Our second virtue is that we have a very different image. Look, without going any further, the name. I think we symbolize the mixed bag of a netizen’s expectations. Finally, our product is a good search tool that groups the contents in a very intuitive and easy to understand way.
–Well, the term easy is pretty relative. For an absolute layman, do you think it is really easy to use the Internet?
-Do not. It has yet to become a much simpler tool. A large part of Internet users are qualified people: experts, university students, computer enthusiasts, professionals … If we want to turn the Internet into a true mass medium, we must fight to make it much simpler and cheaper. The Internet has to end up being as easy to use as the telephone or television. That’s what ordinary people want and, of course, what advertisers would like.
–Perhaps what still scares many people is the computer, more than the Internet itself.
-Indeed. But there are many possibilities to make the Internet a world accessible by other channels such as television, the telephone or any other device in the house. You will see how soon we will connect to the Internet through TV.
–And what about the other great phobia: security? Still many users fear for the inviolability of their online transactions.
“Honestly, it’s an unfounded fear.” Today we have really good technology in this field, although of course it can and will be improved. In the US, users are beginning to overcome the psychological period of fear of making purchases, leaving their credit card number or sending confidential messages on the Internet. The psychological sense of security is essential for e-commerce to succeed.
–The truth is that things are easier in the United States, among other reasons because the majority language on the Internet is English. So any…
-It’s true. But look, although I am American, my origin is Chinese so I know something about marginalized languages on the Internet. I am completely convinced that the Internet should not be a tool only for Anglo-Saxons. Today it still is: 80 percent of traffic is done in English, followed by French, German and Spanish. The future of electronic companies depends on their being able to get local content for different countries adapted to their language and culture. And that content has to be as good and competitive as what is done in English. Part of the fault lies with the local companies themselves: they have the ball in their court to fill the Internet with their good alternatives. If not, the Spanish, French or Germans will continue to prefer to connect to a web page in English.
–Is this that we are doing now, chatting face to face, is it an endangered species due to the boom in online communication?
-I hope not. It seems to me that there is nothing capable of replacing the pleasure of a good talk. Obviously, Internet communication has many advantages: it is faster, you can add documentation, images or graphics and it allows you to cut and resume contact whenever you want.
–The new media allow things like that you are famous in Cyprus or that in Spain the Lewinsky case is followed with interest. However, the affairs of Cyprus or Spain are of little interest to Americans. Don’t you think that we are going through a one-way globalization process?
-Well, in the US there are also famous Spaniards … Antonio Banderas …
–Ya, and Julio Iglesias.
-Is Julio Iglesias Spanish? I did not know … Well the problem is that the technological and industrial current inevitably circulates from the US to the rest of the world and not so much the other way around. The best technology centers on the planet are in the US And that conditions the rest of the cultural, political, leisure transmissions … But if the Internet has something good, it is that it does not know nationalities. Technology is there for everyone, locally or globally. That is why it does not seem fair to me to speak of globalization in only one direction.
–In any case, there is another paradox: the Internet gives you the opportunity to explore the world, but most users use local services, read the digital version of the newspaper in their city and send electronic messages to their neighborhood neighbors …
-It’s very nice to be sitting in California and visiting a Beijing website, but the behavior of most people in their daily life is confined to their home, their work and their friends. It is natural that any new form of communication tends to satisfy their tastes and acquired behaviors. But I think that the Internet opens an opportunity to increase the concept of what is something local or close.
– What public function can a medium as business-based as the Internet fulfill?
-Like any other medium, it is not that it has an obligation to build a better world, but it cannot avoid doing things like helping to find missing children, supporting the police in the fight against crime or running emergency aid campaigns. ..
– Give me a reason to buy my son a computer and connect him to the Internet.
-If you want your child to become a true citizen of the world, do so. But it is very important that you teach him how to use it, that you share your experience with him, and that you ensure safe use of the Internet.
– The bad thing is that if I buy it today, next year it will be obsolete …
-Yes, it is true that computers evolve at lightning speed. But the user must be aware that they do not need to have the latest technology in their home. All you need is one machine that allows you to go online and meet your basic business and leisure needs. What do you want more for?
– What does a web page have to have to attract Jerry Yang’s attention?
? It has to be useful, and unfortunately on the Internet there are many things that are useless; It must be updated often and it must be creative, offer something personal.
Jorge Mayor
This interview was published in January 1999, in number 212 of VERY Interesting.
