Yahoo! Kids was a public

web portal A web portal is a specially designed website that brings information from diverse sources, like emails, online forums and search engines, together in a uniform way. Usually, each information source gets its dedicated area on the page for displayin ...

provided by

Yahoo! Yahoo (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web portal that provides the search engine Yahoo Search and related services including My Yahoo, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo News, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, y!entertainment, yahoo!life, and its a ...

to find

age-appropriate Age appropriateness describes people behaving as predicted by their perspective timetable of development. The perspective timetable is embedded throughout people's social life, primarily based on socially-agreed age expectations and age norms. For ...

online content for children between the ages of 4 and 13. It was available in English and in Korean. The website is used for both educational and entertainment purposes. It was introduced in March 1996 by

to give children a venue to find appropriate, safe Internet content. Yahoo! Kids was the oldest online search directory for children. Yahoo! Kids was discontinued on April 30, 2013, allowing the company to redirect their resources to their mobile applications.

History

Yahooligans! was founded in March 1996 by

to provide children with a venue to find appropriate, safe Internet content. The website was the oldest online search directory for children. The website's editors stated that Yahooligans! was "cool, goofy, fascinating, fun, hysterical, philosophical, surprising, sedate, silly, seismic, popular, obscured, useful, and interesting". In October 1999, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' reporter

Michelle Slatalla Michelle Slatalla is an American journalist and humorist. Currently, she writes a monthly column for the ''Wall Street Journal'' about interior design. Previously, she was a columnist for ''The New York Times'', ''TIME'' magazine, '' Real Simple ...

noted that Yahooligans! was a "heavily trafficked site", with 463,000 visitors accessing the website in August 1999. In October 1999, the website received an

Alexa Internet Alexa Internet, Inc. was a web traffic analysis company based in San Francisco, California. It was founded as an independent company by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat in 1996. Alexa provided web traffic data, global rankings, and other info ...

rank of 991 out of 22 million content websites. In 2004, Yahoo! entered into a partnership with

DIC Entertainment DIC Entertainment Corporation (; also known as DIC Audiovisuel, DIC Enterprises, DIC Animation City, DIC Entertainment, L.P., and DIC Productions, sometimes stylized as DİC) was a French American film and television production company that ...

(now

WildBrain WildBrain Ltd. is a Canadian media, animation studio, production company, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest independent library of Children's tel ...

) to establish Yahooligans! TV, which gave users access to DIC's 3,000 hours of animated children programs. DIC president Brad Brooks stated that the partnership "offer dadvertisers a cross platform purchase". Yahoo! sold the ads and the revenue from the commercials was split between the two companies. In December 2006, Yahooligans! was rebranded as Yahoo! Kids.

Closure

Yahoo! Kids closed on April 30, 2013. In February 2013, Yahoo! CEO

Marissa Mayer Marissa Ann Mayer (; born May 30, 1975) is an American business executive and investor who served as President (corporate title), president and chief executive officer of Yahoo! from 2012 to 2017, when it was sold to Verizon. She was a long-tim ...

told an investor conference that the company aimed to reduce their 70 products to 12, increasing their attention on mobile device applications. In an April 19, 2013, blog post announcing Yahoo! Kids' closure, Yahoo! Executive Vice president of Platforms Jay Rossiter wrote:

want to bring you experiences that inspire and entertain you every day. That means taking a hard look at all of our products to make sure they are still central to your daily habits. As part of that ongoing effort, today we are shutting down a few more products.

He said that Yahoo! would redirect those resources to newer products like e-mail and weather mobile applications. Rossiter wrote that Yahoo!'s "youngest users" could continue using the company's services. Children younger than 13 could create a Yahoo! account through Yahoo!'s Family Accounts program. Young users could also find age-appropriate movies through the "Family Movies" section of Yahoo! Movies.

Japan

was launched in Japan in November 1997. Under the control of

Yahoo! Japan is a Japanese web portal. It was the most-visited website in Japan, nearing monopolistic status. According to ''The Japan Times'', as of 2012, Yahoo! Japan had a footprint on the internet market in Japan. In terms of use as a search engine, ...

and later

LY Corporation , trading as LYC, is a Japanese internet company owned by A Holdings, a joint venture between SoftBank Group of Japan, and Naver Corporation of South Korea, founded in 2023 by the merger of Z Holdings, and four subsidiaries including Line Co ...

, it remains active unlike its US counterpart.

Content

The website was used for both educational and entertainment purposes. The Yahoo! Kids' portal had directories such as "Around the World", "Arts & Entertainment", "Computers & Games", "School Bell", "Science & Nature", and "Sports & Recreation". Under the directory "School Bell", the category "Homework Answers" allowed children to access websites pertaining to school subjects such as geography, history, and math. Under "Around the World", children could learn about countries, politics, and history. The "Art Soup" directory taught children about museums and drama, and the "Scoop" let them look at comics and newspapers. It had an

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

section to let children read age-appropriate articles. The parents' section of the website contained advice about being safe while browsing the Internet and links to services that "block and filter websites". The teachers' section contained lesson plans for "planning, implementing and assessing integrated units". It was separated into three ranks: kindergarten through second grade, third through fifth grade, and sixth to eighth grade. Educational professionals and former teachers screened each website listed in Yahooligans. The homepage displayed links to games, jokes, news, and sports. For the latter three, the content was crafted for those younger than 12. Yahooligans! directed viewers to child-friendly websites like those from

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

and

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Rive Droite, Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement of Paris, 1st arron ...

. It adopted the persona of

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

's pet cat,

Socks A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the Calf (leg), calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. ...

, to introduce viewers to the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

's website in 1995. Games provided on the Yahoo! Kids website included

Chinese checkers Chinese checkers (US) or Chinese chequers (UK), known as ''Sternhalma'' in German, is a Abstract strategy game, strategy board game of German origin that can be played by two, three, four, or six people, playing individually or with partners. The ...

Go Fish Go Fish or Fish is a card game for approximately two to five players, often played by children. It might be similar to a game called ''Andare e piscere'' which was current in Italy at the end of the 15th Century, of which no contemporary descrip ...

, and

Checkers Checkers (American English), also known as draughts (; English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English), is a group of Abstract strategy game, strategy board games for two players which involve forward movements of uniform game ...

. Age-appropriate offsite games were also accessible via the links under the "games" tab. The website offered an

instant messaging Instant messaging (IM) technology is a type of synchronous computer-mediated communication involving the immediate ( real-time) transmission of messages between two or more parties over the Internet or another computer network. Originally involv ...

gadget that allowed children to participate in live chats with notable people, such as

J. K. Rowling Joanne Rowling ( ; born 31 July 1965), known by her pen name , is a British author and philanthropist. She is the author of ''Harry Potter'', a seven-volume fantasy novel series published from 1997 to 2007. The series has List of best-sell ...

, and

Bill Nye the Science Guy ''Bill Nye the Science Guy'' is an American science education television program created by Bill Nye, James McKenna, and Erren Gottlieb, with Nye starring as a fictionalized version of himself. It was produced by Seattle public television stat ...

. In March 2011, Yahoo! Kids partnered with the TV series '' Star Wars: The Clone Wars'' near the season's finale to have children pose questions to Chewbacca. Question submissions were posted on

SurveyMonkey SurveyMonkey Inc. (formerly Momentive Global Inc. from 2021 to 2023) is an experience management company that offers cloud-based software in brand insights, market insights, product experience, employee experience, customer experience, online sur ...

, and Yahoo! Kids posted Chewbacca's answers on March 28. The approximately three minute long video consisted of Chewbacca pantomiming responses to queries such as "How do you deal with all that hair?"

Reviews

In August 1996, Greg Mefford of ''The Galveston Daily News'' (later renamed to '' The Daily News'') stated that Yahooligans is "as much fun as it is educational, with links to darn near everything". ''

Kokomo Tribune The ''Kokomo Tribune'' is a daily newspaper based in Kokomo, Indiana, United States. It is owned by CNHI. History The ''Kokomo Tribune'' can trace its history back to October 1850, when the weekly ''Howard Tribune'' was founded in Kokomo to c ...

'' columnist Amy Irick wrote in January 1998 that Yahooligans! was a "great alternative to the Yahoo! search engine for younger computer users". In August 1999, Irick said that Yahooligans! was "very user friendly, just like its parent Yahoo!" and that its teachers' guide is a "must see for teachers". ''

Indiana Gazette The ''Indiana Gazette'' is a newspaper in Indiana, Pennsylvania Indiana is a borough in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. The population was 14,044 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the India ...

''s John Smathers wrote in June 2002, "I can't mention kids sites without mentioning Yahooligans.com", praising the website as a "great tool to teach kids more about Internet surfing". In June 2005, reviewer Gail Junion-Metz of the ''

School Library Journal ''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, wi ...

'' praised Yahooligans! Games, writing that it is " e of the best spots to find kid-appropriate games that don't require downloads". In a September 1998 review of the website, John Hilvert and Linda Bruce of ''PC User'' (now named '' TechLife'') wrote that "Yahooligans is one of the best specialized engines, particularly for homework answers." In July 2007, reviewer Holly Gunn of ''Teacher Librarian'' praised Yahoo! Kids for its helpful, comprehensible results but criticized it for having an interface filled with too many ads and that was "too busy and filled with too many diversions. Useful material is buried amidst entertainment".

References

;Notes ;Bibliography *

External links

Yahooligans!
on November 6, 2006 (from the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

)
Yahoo! Kids
on April 26, 2013 (from the

)
Yahoo! Kids Japan
{{Yahoo! Inc.

Kids Kid, Kids, KIDS, and K.I.D.S. may refer to: Common meanings * Colloquial term for a child or other young person ** Also for a parent's offspring regardless of age * Engage in joking * Young goat * The goat meat of young goats * Kidskin, leath ...

Web directories Children's websites Products introduced in 1996 Internet properties established in 1996 Internet properties disestablished in 2013

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

Japanese websites Japanese-language websites SoftBank Group