Yahoo Adds Facebook Contact Import Ability

Yahoo Mail users should find it considerably more convenient to get in touch with their friends and acquaintances from now on.  Today, Yahoo and Facebook made it possible for those users to add their Facebook friends' email addresses to their Yahoo Contacts lists.

The benefits should be obvious.  A post on the Yahoo Mail Blog pointed out, "So when you are on Yahoo! Sports and you want to email your old high school buddy that great article on the Winter Olympics, his email address is just a click away.  Or maybe you want to forward your cousin your airplane reservations on Yahoo! Mail . . . . [n]ow you can type the first few letters of his name in Yahoo! Mail and - presto! - his email address from his Facebook profile will appear in your email."

The import process is extremely simple, too.  Users just need to head to the "Import Contacts" page, click on Facebook's logo, enter their Facebook login info, and wait a few moments for all of the data to transfer.

Whether this development will be enough to make Gmail or Hotmail users give Yahoo Mail a chance is hard to say, but this at least represents a significant step forward in terms of user-friendliness for existing Yahoo Mail fans.

More tie-ups between Yahoo and Facebook are on the way, too, according to Andrew Molyneux, a program manager over Yahoo Mail.

Yahoo Adds Facebook Contact Import Ability

Yahoo Mail users should find it considerably more convenient to get in touch with their friends and acquaintances from now on.  Today, Yahoo and Facebook made it possible for those users to add their Facebook friends' email addresses to their Yahoo Contacts lists.

The benefits should be obvious.  A post on the Yahoo Mail Blog pointed out, "So when you are on Yahoo! Sports and you want to email your old high school buddy that great article on the Winter Olympics, his email address is just a click away.  Or maybe you want to forward your cousin your airplane reservations on Yahoo! Mail . . . . [n]ow you can type the first few letters of his name in Yahoo! Mail and - presto! - his email address from his Facebook profile will appear in your email."

The import process is extremely simple, too.  Users just need to head to the "Import Contacts" page, click on Facebook's logo, enter their Facebook login info, and wait a few moments for all of the data to transfer.

Whether this development will be enough to make Gmail or Hotmail users give Yahoo Mail a chance is hard to say, but this at least represents a significant step forward in terms of user-friendliness for existing Yahoo Mail fans.

More tie-ups between Yahoo and Facebook are on the way, too, according to Andrew Molyneux, a program manager over Yahoo Mail.

AT&T: Buzz the “Best Way” to Get Your Business in Front of Facebook Users

Google Buzz has captured a lot of the buzz around services with "Buzz" in the title (of which there are a few), but before Google Buzz was even announced, AT&T Interactive had already launched a beta version of its latest take on local business search at Buzz.com. Buzz.com has only been available on an invitation basis so far, and will remain that way until some bugs are ironed out, but you may find AT&T's Buzz becoming a bigger part of your life than Google's simply, because it will be coming at you from your Facebook friends.

We spent close to an hour talking to AT&T about the product, checking out a demo of the service, and getting a feel for just what AT&T plans to do with Buzz.com. Right off the bat, Charlie Hornberger, director of product development told WebProNews it's not as much about getting in front of people on Buzz.com, but getting in front of them on Facebook. That's just for now anyway, it's already integrated with Facebook, and Twitter is next on the list, he says. Then they'll figure out what other networks to integrate, whether that be Gmail contacts, instant messenger lists, or anything else.

Buzz.com is focused on only positive reactions to businesses. Users can "favorite" businesses and recommend them to their friends. So as far as reputation management goes, there shouldn't be too many issues here from the standpoint of monitoring negative commentary. Although if your competitors are getting a lot of "buzz" and you're not, that may be worth looking into.

Hornberger doesn't appear too worried about any branding issues around the name Buzz. Jokingly, he said it seems like "if you don't have Buzz then you have a problem." The very nature of Buzz.com shouldn't make it much of an issue anyway, because it's essentially coming at you right in your Facebook news feed. You don't necessarily have to go to Buzz.com to feel its presence, although he views having buzz.com as a URL as a "great asset," because it "makes sense for this product."

Before you get all riled up with visions of Farmville-style Facebook updates, relax, because Buzz's Facebook integration is set up to prevent feed-spamming. If a user shares a lot of businesses at a time, it will consolidate these into a single update on Facebook. Some Facebook users may still wish not to see such things, but they can adjust their settings in Facebook the same as with anything else. Frankly, this is adding more value to the user than learning about friends' pseudo-farming practices, because if a friend recommends a dentist, for example, that might be useful to you at some point.

Businesses will want to make sure they're listed in Buzz.com, because not only will they be listed in Buzz.com, they'll be listed right in Facebook users' news feeds anytime a Buzz.com user "favorites" their business, and shares that with their friends. Hornberger calls it a way to get on Facebook "in the best possible way."

Currently there is not a place on Buzz.com that businesses can go and get listed, but he says there will be soon. However, listings come from the same database that powers AT&T's YellowPages.com. I'd advise making sure you have a listing there, complete with a link to your site. They are looking at other potential ways to expand listings as well, including potentially, a way for users to submit things besides businesses (like a public tennis court for example).

They will have a mobile web app available in a couple weeks for Buzz.com. Hornberger says they haven't started on one for the App Store, but even if they do, it will be more for visibility purposes, and the web app will likely provide the better user experience (no mention of an Android app).

For now, you can use Buzz.com if you get an invite. Everyone that gets an invite can send out more invitations. There is a chance you are already seeing people post Buzz.com activity to Facebook. Until the kinks are worked out, it will continue to be on an invitation-only basis, but that will likely change in the not-too-distant future.

Buzz.com could play a significant role in the local search space as it grows, and is probably not something businesses want to ignore. On a side note, Buzz.com utilizes AT&T's existing partnership with Microsoft by providing Bing Maps imagery, so this could be considered another factor in Bing usage.

Have you used Buzz.com? Share your thoughts.

Yahoo Gets Deep With Twitter

Yahoo said early Wednesday it has entered into a partnership with Twitter that will integrate real-time tweets across the Yahoo network.

Users will be able to access their personal Twitter feeds on the Yahoo homepage, Yahoo Mail, Yahoo Sports, and other areas. Yahoo users will also be able to update their Twitter status from Yahoo and share content in their Twitter feed.

"The information in one single tweet can travel light-years farther with this Yahoo! integration," said Twitter cofounder, Biz Stone. "Tweets in more places brings relevance where and when you need it most."

While Twitter seemingly wants to be everywhere on the Web as it has search deals with Microsoft's Bing and Google, Yahoo is trying to dive deeper into the social realm and become the go-to property for all things social.

Yahoo reached a similar deal with Facebook in December that is expected to roll out in the first half of this year. Users will be able to connect with Facebook friends on Yahoo, view a feed of their friends' activity, and share content such as photos from Flickr or comment on news stories.

The move by Yahoo is also part of its Open Strategy which Jim Stoneham, vice president of Communities for Yahoo said is "aimed at making experiences dramatically more open and personally relevant for the more than 600 million people that visit Yahoo each month."

"Let me try to capture the enormity of this integration in 140 characters or less: We're turning the key to the online social universe - you will find the most personally relevant experiences through Yahoo!," said Bryan Lamkin, senior vice president, consumer products group, Yahoo!.

"We're also simplifying people's lives by bringing their social worlds - and the world -- together for easy access."

Who do you think will see the most benefit from this partnership? Yahoo or Twitter?
 

 

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