As a Yahoo! Messenger user, you’re used to seeing ads when you’re chatting with friends. We know you see ads all over the Internet, so it’s always a challenge for us to serve up compelling ads that are unique.
This weekend you’ll see ads in Yahoo! Messenger for Discovery Channel’s new Life series, which begins March 21. Narrated by Oprah Winfrey, Life is an 11-part series about the natural world around us, and is the follow up to the critically acclaimed series, Planet Earth.
Rather than just offer up the usual banner ads, we’ve partnered with Life to integrate some fun Messenger functionality into their ads. If you see a Life ad in Yahoo! Messenger, be sure to click to expand it. You can watch a video preview of the series and then with just a click, share it with your IM friends, update your status to tell your friends about the show, or even change your display image to one of the cool animal images from the show.
While we know ads can sometimes distract you from what you’re doing in Yahoo! Messenger, we hope you’ll find that these special Life ads instead enhance your IM experience by giving you something fun to share with your friends.
Looking for a fun greeting to send out to friends and family this year? Look no further than the “Build Your Own Snowman” card from Yahoo!.
Start by adjusting the size of his snowballs, then give him or her the proper eyes, nose and mouth. Or maybe not so proper depending on the mood you’re in. Then choose from a variety of backgrounds and add some holiday and not-so-holiday items to your tableau (pandas anyone?). There’s even holiday music playing to keep you in the mood.
When you’re done, we’ll give you a link that you can send out to friends over IM, email, Twitter, Facebook and more.
A co-worker pointed me to this short film about a 50+ couple, Mia and Florin Popescu, who are both a little scared of technology but determined enough to stick with it so they can IM with their son, Alex, who lives in the US. A piece of crumpled paper with instructions from Alex is their only map to the sometimes complicated world of Yahoo Messenger. It’s not a documentary but it feels like one!
Created in 2008 by Director Constantin Popescu, “The Yellow Smiley Face (Fata Galbena)” is a delightful and funny look at the steep learning curve computers present for those who have little to no experience. Watching the couple took me back to when I taught my own parents and grandparents. A powerful reminder that at some point in the past, I too had to learn how to use this machine that hums at my feet day and night.
What’s most charming about the film is the big payoff – Mia and Florin’s faces and excited chatter when they finally do connect with Alex and see him on-screen. A nice illustration of how all this complicated technology can ultimately help us make real connections.
This week, we’ve launched the first-ever Yodel Studio where Yahoo! users can come and record their personalized version of our famous brand sound.
That’s right, the catchy Yahoo! trademark, which is part song, part celebration shout, is ready for you to modify, mix and simply make your own. Be loud, be funny, be serious or be seriously silly, but most of all just be YOU! Just head over to the Yodel Studio, plug in your webcam, select a background track and…Yodel! If you need inspiration, there’s some samples to inspire you.
No webcam? Just use your video phone or camcorder to record your yodel, then upload it here. And if you want to really go all out, you can even download the backing tracks to edit and mix your Yodel at home. Then upload it through the site.
We’re also holding live events in New York, London and Mumbai with a little help from local (and famous!) musicians who will help coach eager Yodelers into giving their best performances.
Don’t think there’s much you can do with our Yodel? Check out the samples below by clicking the play button. Inspired? Record your own and share with your friends!
