Yahoo thinks a messaging app could solve its engagement problem

It seems like every company wants a piece of the messaging service pie, including Yahoo. These services are not only exploding in popularity, but offer a level of engagement that every technology company longs for. Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer made it clear at the company’s earnings call yesterday that messaging apps may be one of the best ways for Yahoo to develop a more devoted user base.  

Monthly active users are a fine metric, but Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer wants to grow the number of people who touch her company’s products daily. To do that, she’s considering messaging. “We want fewer tourists and more fanatics, [people] who are using the product all the time,” she said during today’s fourth quarter earnings call. She hinted that a way to build that kind of engagement is through communications tools like messaging apps. While Mayer acknowledged the company’s existing messenger service, she talked about increasing Yahoo’s overall communications offerings. A dive into messaging wouldn’t be surprising. The company has already expressed interest in messaging services — most recently in the form of two acquisitions.