Armstrong feels strongly that this year, AOL will “disrupt” the online industry, and he looks forward to their triumphant return. Not that this hasn’t been said before. When AOL was owned by Time Warner, leader after leader made such promises, but none were fulfilled.

But things are different now, with AOL having split from Time Warner in December 2009 and a seemingly impervious chief executive. His unwavering confidence, despite the company’s undoubtedly lamentable situation,  is admirable. AOL continues to diminish, while rivals are strong (and getting stronger). Yet, Armstrong says his overhaul, which is already two years in progress, will effectively turn the tides in the two years to follow. He said in an interview, “We’ve made a tremendous amount of difficult changes and reshaped what the company is doing and where it’s going.”

One of the biggest changes AOL has undergone is the acquisition of The Huffington Post, putting the beloved Arianna Huffington at the head of all the company’s content business. This was indeed a major investment, and even Armstrong, with all his optimism realizes that immediate payoff is not to be expected. Fortunately, though, the Post is predicted to generate a decent profit for the year.

Ultimately, Armstrong aims to turn AOL into “a global digital media company with high quality content.” But can it be achieved in just two more years? Are his moves truly part of a strategic rejuvenation, or are they simply acts of desperation disguised with lofty words of assurance?

Perhaps the thing to remember is that AOL, met with years of deterioration, was backed against a wall. You should never underestimate someone in that position.

On Jan. 30, PRNewswire ran a story on Yedda.com, the social “question and answer” hub used by searchers looking for real answers from real people. Since partnering with AOL, Yedda’s unique visitors have grown 1000% within the past year!

Mentioned in the article posted on EarthTimes.org was our very own, eZanga.com, as one of Yedda’s search engine partners:

Yedda forms part of AOL’s newly created People Networks business unit, and
in 2008, was incorporated into several prominent AOL programming and content
areas including: AOL Sports, AOL News, Walletpop, Stylelist and others.
Yedda’s Question & Answer platform has also been extended to more than 150
partners worldwide, including news and media publishers (such as The
Washington Times and The LA News Group); content websites (such as
WorldTravelGuide, ArticlesBase, and 5min Life Videopedia); search engines
(such as Omgili, Megaglobe, and eZanga) and strategic international partners
(Telecom Italia – Alice.it).  (excerpt taken from http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/social-question–answer-service,698541.shtml)

To read the entire article on Earth Times, follow this link! Congratulations eZanga!