Yahoo Buys Online Contest Site Bix

Yahoo has decided to buy up Bix, a site known for hosting contests on photography, dance, comedy, writing, and - there's no polite way to say this - lip-synching.

Internet titan Yahoo has snapped up yet another small Internet company: this time, the acquiree is Bix, a social Web site which lets users create (and participate) in online contests. Contests are broken into loose categories including photos, writing, comedy, dance, and "beauty," with perhaps the site’s best-known offering being video lip-synching – some more general contests on the site solicit votes for the best video game or best U.S. president. Site users cast votes and winners receive prizes, often offered by companies which see the contests as online promotional tools. Bix offers online tools to record audio and video (assuming users’ computer hardware is up to the task)

Bix apparently views the Yahoo acquisition as a way to bring its offerings to Yahoo’s (much) larger audience; Yahoo sees Bix’s technology and business model as a way to supplement Yahoo’s own social media offerings, offering an American Idol-like experience where visitors can be the judge.

Yahoo’s acquisition of Bix is the latest in a string of acquisitions designed to propel the company into the social media and "Web 2.0" spaces; other recent additions include Flickr, Del.icio.us, Jumpcut, and Upcoming.org.