WebProNews

The minor shuffling Yahoo undertook last year saw the formation of three divisions to oversee the company's operations. Yahoo Network Division head Jeff Weiner explained how it's going to work. The executive vice-president of Yahoo's Network Division clarified one point that has become much more evident with Yahoo's recent actions. Recent consolidations of services, like Yahoo Photos and Flickr, are part of a grander plan.

"The goal behind the re-org was to help us rationalize and consolidate duplicative products, create greater focus on key priorities, clarify strategic direction, and ultimately develop an environment where we could accelerate the speed and quality of our decision-making," Weiner said in his post on the Yahoo Yodel blog.

Weiner has a number of Yahoo's most trafficked properties under his purview: Mail, Search, Answers, and the Yahoo home page itself. If it's facing the Internet user, it's probably under the Network Division.

Putting them in one division may have caused some to question that move. He said in response: "The answer to that question lies no further than our mission statement: 'To connect people to their passions, communities, and the world’s knowledge.'"

Improving the connections means removing some services, like Yahoo Photos and the decision to close Yahoo Auctions in the US and Canada. To Yahoo, efficiency makes for better connections.

As far as passions go, Weiner acknowledged that many see it as a buzzword, a kind of corporate-speak that makes eyes glaze over upon hearing it. "It’s important to understand that there is a lot of science that goes into truly making connecting people to their passions a reality," he said in its defense.

"We want to connect the right user to the right content at the right time," Weiner said. "If we get this right, the implications are considerable."

The communities Weiner mentioned play into Yahoo's social media strategies. They have new products in the pipeline, a next generation that should tap into not just what people want, but who they know, as Weiner hinted about how services beyond Mail and Messenger will work.

For that strategy to bear fruit, Yahoo will have to leverage the knowledge it has, according to Weiner. "It’s a mission and strategy that not only governs our big picture in terms of where we want to go, but also our day-to-day in terms of how we’re going to get there," he said.

The re-org is behind Yahoo now, punctuated by their hiring of a new CFO to fill the spot left open when Sue Decker moved up to head the Advertiser & Publisher Group at Yahoo. Executing the connection strategy will be the real trick, especially with investors unhappy about Yahoo's stock performance.

The markets, both the Yahoo audience one and Wall Street, will be watching.