Go.com
{{short description|Landing page for Disney Internet content}}
{{distinguish|GoTo.com}}
{{Infobox website
| name = Go.com
| logo = Go.com logo.png
| logo_caption = Logo used from 2000 to 2010
| screenshot =
| caption =
| url = {{URL|https://www.go.com}}
| commercial = yes
| type = Web portal
| language = English
| registration =
| owner = Disney Interactive
(The Walt Disney Company)
| author = Disney Interactive Media Group
(The Walt Disney Company)
| launch_date = {{start date and age|1998|1|9}}
| current_status =
| revenue =
}}
Go.com (also known as The Go Network) is a portal for Disney content and a single sign-on system that was created after The Walt Disney Company acquired the search engine Infoseek. Go.com is operated by Disney Interactive's Disney Online. It began as a web portal launched by Jeff Gold.{{cite book|last=Bahareth|first=Mohammad|title=Kings of the Internet|date=April 18, 2012|publisher=iUniverse|isbn=9781469798431|page=210|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QihORDUXibcC&dq=web+portal+jeff+gold+go.com&pg=PA210|access-date=March 31, 2014}} Go.com includes content from ABC News, which is owned by Walt Disney Television and is hosted under a .go.com name. Along with Time Warner's Pathfinder.com, Go.com proved to be an expensive failure for its parent company, as web users largely preferred to use search engines to access content directly, rather than using directories. In 2013, the site was transitioned from a general-interest portal to a simple landing page.
History
On January 9, 1998, Disney registered Go.com.{{cite web|last=Polsson|first=Ken|title=1998|url=http://kpolsson.com/disnehis/disn1998.htm|work=Chronology of the Walt Disney Company|publisher=kpolsson.com|access-date=7 December 2012}} Infoseek and Disney Interactive Media Group joint ventured in developing the Go Network, an internet portal.{{cite news|last=Tedesco|first=Richard|title=Disney, Infoseek give green light|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-53419086.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130531021651/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-53419086.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=May 31, 2013|access-date=30 November 2012|newspaper=Broadcasting & Cable|date=December 14, 1998}} Go.com was launched on January 15, 1999, as a portal with content from ABCNews.com, ESPN.com and Disney.{{cite web|title=GO Network premieres|url=https://money.cnn.com/1999/01/12/technology/go/|access-date=7 December 2012|website=CNN Money|date=January 12, 1999}}
With Disney's purchase of the remainder of Infoseek in July 1999, the Go Network, Infoseek, the Disney Catalog, Disney Online (Disney.com and DisneyStore.com), ABC News Internet Ventures, ESPN Internet Ventures, and Buena Vista Internet Group were merged into the Go.com company; the company was 72% Disney-owned, with the other outstanding ownership in a tracking stock.{{cite web|title=Disney absorbs Infoseek|url=https://money.cnn.com/1999/07/12/deals/disney/|access-date=7 December 2012|website=CNN Money|date=July 12, 1999}}
In October 1999, the Go Guides program, a user-edited directory like DMOZ, was launched.{{cite news |title=The Search Engine Report: Go Guides Goes Live |url=http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/99/10-go.html |access-date=7 December 2012 |newspaper=searchenginewatch.com |date=October 4, 1999 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030103061426/http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/99/10-go.html |archive-date=3 January 2003 }}{{cite web|last=Sullivan|first=Danny|title=Go Going Elsewhere, Loses Logo|url=http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2064941/Go-Going-Elsewhere-Loses-Logo|access-date=7 December 2012|website=Search Engine Watch|date=Feb 3, 2000}}
In January 2000, Go.com was forced to abandon its original stoplight logo because of a complaint of similar-looking logos filed by GoTo.com.{{cite news |last=Jacobus |first=Patricia |date=January 28, 2000 |title=Judge bars Disney from using Go.com logo |url=http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-236221.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131117070848/http://news.cnet.com/2100-1023-236221.html |archive-date=November 17, 2013 |access-date=7 December 2012 |newspaper=CNET News}}{{Cite web |date=February 3, 2000 |title=Go Going Elsewhere, Loses Logo |url=http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2162291 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040803192522/http://searchenginewatch.com/sereport/article.php/2162291 |archive-date=August 3, 2004 |access-date=2024-07-15 |website=Search Engine Watch}} Concurrently, Go.com company officials announced it was shifting from a general appeal portal to featuring entertainment content. A court later ruled that Go.com had to pay $21.5 million in damages to GoTo.com.{{cite web |last=Sullivan |first=Danny |title=Go.com Becomes GoTo |url=http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2048629/Go.com-Becomes-GoTo |access-date=7 December 2012 |website=Search Engine Watch |date=March 14, 2001 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130325061312/http://searchenginewatch.com/article/2048629/Go.com-Becomes-GoTo |archive-date=25 March 2013 }}
However, in January 2001, Disney announced that it would be closing Go.com and its search engine, laying off approximately 400 employees and retiring the go.com tracking stock.{{cite web|title=Disney to Discontinue Go.com Portal|url=http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/5321_573361|access-date=7 December 2012|website=Internet News|date=January 29, 2001|archive-date=31 May 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531002953/http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/5321_573361|url-status=dead}} Also announced was the closing of Go.com's volunteer-edited directory. With the closing, some volunteers created, or migrated to, offshoot directories including JoeAnt, Goguides.org, and Skaffe.com.
In March 2001, Go.com dropped its internal search engine in favor of GoTo.com search results.
Current status
Despite its announcement, Go.com never ceased operations. Instead, in March 2001, the site ended its search engine and switched to a search engine provided by goto.com, whose parent, Overture Services, Inc, was eventually purchased by Yahoo!.{{Cite web |last=Olsen |first=Stefanie |title=Yahoo to buy Overture for $1.63 billion |url=https://www.cnet.com/news/yahoo-to-buy-overture-for-1-63-billion/ |access-date=2021-01-30 |website=CNET }}
Go.com terminated its email service on August 31, 2010.
In 2013, Disney retired the Go.com logo and branding, turning the domain into a Disney-branded landing page without a search engine. The properties of Disney Interactive then began the process of moving the connection of user accounts off from depending on the Go.com domain to a different type of system not dependent solely on one domain. Throughout 2014 and 2015, the ABC Owned Television Stations began to move to only using their on-air domains, mainly for social media considerations. For example, the website ABC 7 in Chicago had been hosted at abclocal.go.com/wls but is now instead hosted on abc7chicago.com.
In 2016, some of Disney's sites, including ABC's network and news divisions and Disney's cable networks continued to be hosted on the go.com domain, although a base address was used for branding and simplicity purposes; for example, the website for Freeform redirected to freeform.go.com. As of 2022, the Freeform website is hosted solely on the freeform.com domain name.
In August 2016, ESPN.com switched to solely using that domain instead of espn.go.com, tying into the improved Disney Enterprise Technology user account and registration process now hosted at disney.com, rather than a rumored issue involving the resolution of "301" error notices from the former espn.com redirect causing lower search result rankings.{{cite news |url=http://awfulannouncing.com/2016/espn-drops-espn-go-com-but-not-over-a-tweet-from-last-week.html |title=ESPN drops ESPN.go.com, but not over a tweet from last week |last=Buchholz |first=Andrew|date=4 August 2016|publisher=Awful Announcing|access-date=5 August 2016}}{{cite news |url=http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/08/espn-com-has-finally-replaced-espn-go-com-and-a-tweet-about-google-seo-may-be-part-of-why/|title=ESPN.com has finally replaced espn.go.com, and a newish SEO rule means it won't lose Google juice |last=Benton |first=Joshua |date=4 August 2016 |publisher=Nieman Journalism Lab |access-date=5 August 2016 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{official website|http://www.go.com}}
{{Disney}}
{{Disney Interactive}}{{Web search engines}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Defunct internet search engines
Category:Internet properties established in 1998
Category:Internet properties disestablished in 2013