Yahoo plans to unveil a new feature called 'Y Connect' this autumn, emulating the Facebook Connect strategy to allow media publishers, Web developers and other websites to integrate elements of their services with Yahoo, the Wall Street Journal reported.

This move by Yahoo is aimed at helping Internet companies track user engagement and better target advertising offers, while increasing traffic to its site - a strategy already used by Facebook, the WSJ pointed out.

With the Internet service company struggling of late to increase traffic on its site and having recently revamped its search feature, "additional traffic is critical at this juncture," Mashable.com reported. The company has also been rumoured to be fighting off an acquisition attempt by AOL.

Through this Y Connect feature, users can register and log into media sites simply by clicking a Yahoo button and sharing their activity on media sites with other contacts on Yahoo. Content on non-Yahoo sites would be shared via Yahoo Pulse, a hub connected to Yahoo Mail accounts, according to the WSJ.

"While a non-Facebook controlled universal login button is something the Internet very much needs, Yahoo's attempt at a Facebook Connect killer will fail," TechCrunch's Alexia Tsotsis wrote. She pointed out that no publishers have been approached by the company regarding Y Connect integration and some publishers are holding off as they are afraid the service "will damage [their] existing relationship with Facebook, despite the guaranteed Yahoo traffic and ad unit discounts." Currently Huffington Post is the only confirmed Y Connect partner.

While the Y Connect platform facilitates easy sharing of content with friends and is an easy alternative to driving traffic to the Yahoo sites, Greg Sterling, an analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, is skeptical "about whether Yahoo will persuade the market" to adopt Y Connect, according to the WSJ. "Yahoo might get a better reception in regions such as Asia, where it may have a stronger brand than Facebook."