Yahoo recently announced that it has entered into an agreement to acquire most of the assets of Tensa Kft., more commonly known as IndexTools. The deal includes IndexTools' Web analytics business and technology, which gives Yahoo an entry into that market. Rivals Google and Microsoft Corp. currently provide analytics tools and products.

Yahoo said the first group of customers to benefit from the analytics tools would be more than 150,000 small and midsize businesses currently marketing online with Yahoo. The transaction is expected to be completed this quarter.

Yahoo's preparing to take on FaceBook, MySpace and other social networking platforms. They'll be opening their Web platforms to developers, allowing the creation of applications which integrate Yahoo's various services, including email, instant messaging, online bookmarking, social news voting, photo sharing, and more.

Each Yahoo user will have a profile they can use to manage all their Yahoo services, and they can customize this profile by adding various applications as well as interact with other Yahoo users.

Yahoo has struggled in the search game, steadily losing ground to Google, and is in the process of fighting a hostile takeover from Microsoft. Rebranding itself as the Internet's largest and most comprehensive social media site may be Yahoo's last chance to ensure its long-term viability going forward.

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