Unfortunately, I haven’t seen too much to get excited about lately. Yes, Facebook Connect is big for the company has quickly expanded its footprint. And they are working on a homepage redesign (Yipee). But MySpace continue to buzz like an annoying little fly.  Their own website refresh, MySpaceID (connect competitor), and the MySpace Music.  Today, much to my chagrin, I have to read about the launching of  MySpace Local.  So when will Facebook step up and wow us the way they used to?  Perhaps my expectations are too high.  But where is the much anticipated payment system for on site and in app purchases?  Where is the streaming music service?  When will localization be added to the web and mobile versions of the site?  What about the planned classified upgrade?  And why the hell has the site been so buggy lately!

Will the real Facebook please stand up?

This makes sense, at least at the most basic level.  None of the major players are doing much with it yet.  Some are experimenting; no one has found the right fit to be sure.  But it will be commonplace at some level in the near future.  You can count on that.  What about all those answers that aren’t on the web though? (Yes, they do exist).  Or what if you just don’t have time to research to get what you want?  For all the useful information on the Internet, sometimes nothing is better than knowledge transferred directly from one person to another.

In comes Aardvark.  Aardvark is made for those times.  On their company blog, co-founder Damon Harowitz describes the service as “a newfangled world-changing thingumabob.”  The name is funky as it is, and this description doesn’t help much.  But his point is valid: its a great new service that is hard to describe but easy to love once you figure it out.

It’s fast, personal, relevant, and easy.  Check out the flow of the product in this image I pulled from their site:

Check out the site.  Right now the service works online via the website and instant messaging clients, and on your mobile via email.  Soon it will work via SMS on mobile and an iPhone app is coming too!  They are also continuing to make the service more intelligent, pulling in data from major social networks and other places to learn how to pair your question with the best person to answer.  It joins the list among my favorite online services and I will defintitely keep an eye on its maturation.  You should too!

1) Brickfish
Brickfish offers unique, innovative ways for brands to engage with their customers. They help brands craft a message that then solicits consumer interaction.  Consumers create user generated content all around their brand and then share it virally to all their friends online.  Some of their most recent success stories have been campaigns for David’s Bridal, Nike, and others.

2) Pixazza
Millions of images are used by content publishers around the web. They add great value to the content but are never monetized and often even incur licensing fees.

Pixazza, Inc. provides an internet service that turns static images into engaging content, while generating incremental income for web publishers. Pixazza enables consumers to simply mouse over images on their favorite web sites to learn more and see related products.

3) ConciseClick, Compulsion.tv, and Innovid
All 3 of these firms are revolutionizing the monetization of online video in different ways allowing virtual product or in-video ad placements and clickable video elements, similar to the way Pixazza does for images, but with video.

4) Engage Advertising and Massive Inc.
Both of these companies create custom in-game advertising. Purchase in game products through an eBay powered marketplace, drive past branded billboards as you race through city streets, take your character to a bar and choose from Coca Cola, Absolut vodka, or Bacardi Rum. The possibilities for integrative experiences truly are vast, and based on results thus far they seem to be effective.

Microsoft is considering and has raised with Yahoo! an alternative that would involve a transaction with Yahoo! but not an acquisition of all of Yahoo!

This leaves us with a couple of options:

• An outsourcing deal with Microsoft competitive to what has been discussed with Google. Microsoft couldn’t win this type of deal based on the merit of their real monetization so my guess is that they would be buying this inventory even if they lose money just stop the potential deal with Google. And it would only be on so called “Back-fill” where Yahoo has no coverage
• They are discussing alternative arrangements, such as a spinning off of search technologies, or other strategic deals whereby they share intellectual assets and inventory.

Whatever it is, expect to hear something soon. Whatever is going to happen is going to have to happen within the next few weeks.

Will Yahoo be able to withstand this latest onslaught? And if they do, will they be able to continue toward a path of success or will they be permanently injured? I don’t know. They may lose the battle to Icahn. Or, they may win only to suffer a mass exodus of talent and a weakened position in the marketplace. But one thing is for sure – I am rooting for them.

Yahoo is the underdog. They are 2nd place in search by a wide margin. They’ve made plenty of mistakes in the past that might lead one to lose faith in their ability to execute. But they are improving; as a Yahoo partner I have seen the changes first hand. And they are ballsy and they have some big bets in place for the future. They’ve got a number of web properties that are #1 or #2 in their space. They are a leader in display advertising. Now Yahoo has put forth a vision that has the chance of transforming the company in the form of Yahoo Open Strategy and AMP (advertising management platform). Read more about Open Strategy here, here, and here. Watch a video about AMP here

It’s going to be exciting to watch it all play out. Good luck Yahoo!