INVESTING FURTHER IN THE COLLECTIVE intelligence of online communities, Yahoo! on Friday said it acquired the bookmark-sharing site Del.icio.us. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. The move comes less than a year after Yahoo! acquired Flickr, an online photo-sharing site that, like Del.icio.us, derives its value from user interaction.

Launched in 2003 by Joshua Schachter, Del.icio.us uses a non-hierarchical keyword grouping system whereby users "tag" each of their Web bookmarks with a set of chosen keywords. For Yahoo!, Del.icio.us and Flickr represent an alternative approach to traditional Web search and its reliance on computer algorithms to determine relevance, said Eckhart Walther, vice president of product management at Yahoo! Search.

"We now see search and online communities at the heart of our mission," Walther said.

As with Flickr, Yahoo! will support the growth of Del.icio.us as an independent entity--helping to scale the site's infrastructure to meet demand--while using Del.icio.us' resources to enhance new and existing Yahoo! products. "Don't be surprised if you see My Web and Del.icio.us borrow a few ideas from each other in the future," wrote Jeremy Zawodny on the Yahoo! Search blog on Friday.

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