This is a big day for Yahoo! Messenger. I’m happy to announce that we’ve opened up the Yahoo! Messenger platform for developers. This exciting SDK will allow developers to use the Yahoo! Messenger platform to create innovative new applications and services.

We tried to make our SDK as simple to use as possible. We’ve exposed a new REST API for the Yahoo! Messenger platform — the same API that we use with our own products. So we know that it’s rock solid. In fact, all you need is a little knowledge of HTTP and JSON and you’ll be up and running in no time, no matter what programming environment you’re using. The SDK contains all the key Yahoo! Messenger features that you’ve come to expect, including real-time presence, contact-list management, instant messaging, file transfers, and user-image management.

Please make sure you read the documentation that we’ve included. This document provides best practices, guidelines for using the service, Messenger logos (including our beloved Smiley), and test cases to make sure your application is working properly.

Finally, note that we’re rolling out the SDK in most of Asia, as well as India, initially. The reason we chose this region is the dynamic nature of instant messaging in this market. There are some crazy and wonderful things with Yahoo! Messenger coming out of this corner of the world.

For those of you in the rest of the world, don’t worry; we have plans to roll out this program on a larger scale very soon.

Here’s a list of handy links:

• Yahoo! Messenger IM SDK
• Yahoo! Messenger IM SDK Developer Terms of Use
• Yahoo! Messenger IM SDK User Guide

Dudley Wong

Product Manager, Yahoo! Messenger

An update on the Yahoo! Messenger API: This is taking a little longer than we like – We have some last mile details to take care of but we are committed to launching the new Yahoo Messenger API very soon.

Let me say that we are really excited about the response and enthusiasm that we’ve received around the opening of the platform behind our popular Yahoo! Messenger service. The team is working hard to make sure that these new APIs meet your expectations, that they are as simple as possible, and that they contain all the key features you need to develop great applications and services.

For this reason, we’ll be in contact really soon… Gotta get back to work!

Dudley Wong

Product Manager, Yahoo! Messenger

This is big news. If you haven’t used Yahoo! Messenger, you’re in for a treat. Yahoo! Messenger is the premier instant messaging (IM) platform, used on a wide variety of desktop and mobile clients. Millions of users throughout the world already depend on Yahoo! Messenger to manage their social contacts, group lists, and presence information; hold real-time instant communications; and perform data transfer to and from contacts throughout the world. All, well — instantly, as its name says.

We’re listening to those developers among you who have been telling us they want to build on that trusted platform. By exposing a new RESTful API for Yahoo! Messenger, we’re allowing you to develop your own innovative programs and tools that make the most of what the Yahoo! IM platform can offer.

Developing for the platform is simple. All you need is a little knowledge of HTTP and JSON, and you’ll be connecting with people across the world in no time, no matter what programming environment you’re using. And from there, just let your imagination run wild with the groundbreaking applications you can create.

We’re very excited about releasing this platform, and we can’t wait for you to get started. Check back into the Yahoo! Developer Network on June 30 for more information.

Dudley Wong
Product Manager

Now when you send or receive a link in an IM conversation, you can easily save it to your Delicious account and share it with friends. Here’s how it works…

Imagine that during an IM conversation, a friend sends you a link that you want to save. It could be a cool new website, important driving directions or a memorable video.

To save it, hover your mouse on the hyperlinked web address and look for a small “Bookmark” button nearby. Click it and a window will open up where you can enter and save details about the link to your Delicious account.

You can enter in notes about the link (“Where Sarah stayed in New Zealand”) as well as tags that will help other Delicious users find your link (new zealand, eco resort, four stars).

If you already have an account with Delicious, you may need to first visit Delicious.com to link it to your Yahoo! ID. But if you’re new to Delicious, you can create your account using your Yahoo! ID right in Yahoo! Messenger.

Delicious is not just a place to store your bookmarks, it’s also a place to see what’s hot and trending and find other Yahoo! users that are into your favorite websites. But you can use Delicious just as a private place to store your bookmarks. When saving a link, just click the “Mark as Private” box.

Yahoo! Messenger also supports the sharing of Delicious.com updates. So when you save a link to Delicious, your friends will see your latest update in Yahoo! Messenger, on their profile page, in Yahoo! Mail etc. It’s a great way to share what sites you’re into at the moment. You can always turn off Delicious updates on the Manage My Updates page on your Yahoo! profile.

The Yahoo! Messenger / Delicious.com feature is available to users on Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 and 10. So what are you waiting for? Go try it out and start sharing your favorite links with friends.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

Started by a 17-year old in Russia, the site stirs up many discussions about inappropriate content, age requirements, and the effect it can have on users, who may be dismayed by people skipping over them once they’re connected. One comment on youtube says “Chat Roulette = Lowering self esteem, waste of time.” Chatroulette seems like the old “Hot or Not?” trend, but taken to the extreme.

Watch the ABC News report below. Is this a positive or a negative innovation? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

While Yahoo! Messenger does not yet support the ability to send out tweets from within the program to your followers, or to receive the tweets of all the people you’re following (unless they all happen to be on your Yahoo! Messenger contact list), there are some other services that can enable this feature for you.

This week I learned about a new service called TweetSwitch that allows you to send and receive your Twitter messages within your IM program. They call themselves a “message forwarding service” for Twitter and they support a variety of IM programs, including Yahoo! Messenger.

Here’s how it works… First, you go to their website and click the “Sign in with Twitter” button. You’ll then be taken to a page on Twitter where you can sign in and link your Twitter account with the TweetSwitch service. After logging in, you’re redirected back to TweetSwitch where you can add the IM service on which you want to be able to send and receive tweets. Choose Yahoo! Messenger, then just type in your Yahoo! ID.

Note that the interface for linking your IM with TweetSwitch is a little wonky – you have to click the blue add (+) icon, add your ID, and then drag the Y! icon into the Step 1 box. When it’s completed, you’ll see a “Perfect!” completion message. If you want to also receive direct messages and replies/mentions from Twitter, be sure to configure the DMs and Mentions sections too.

After setup, you’ll be prompted within Yahoo! Messenger to confirm TweetSwitch as a friend. It will show up in your contact list and when you want to send tweets, you can click on it to get started. Similarly when tweets come in, they come in as IM messages from TweetSwitch.

From that point on, whenever you’re logged into Yahoo! Messenger (even on your mobile phone), any tweets that you normally see in your Twitter feed from those you’re following, as well as replies or retweets to your own messages, will show up as a message in an IM window. Receive all types or pick and choose what to receive – TweetSwitch lets you specify.

TweetSwitch allows you to send tweets out to your followers using a variety of commands. To start a new tweet, double click on your TweetSwitch contact, and type in “tweet” followed by your message. Then just hit Send the same way you’d send an IM message. To direct message someone type “dm [recipient's twitter ID]” followed by your tweet message. To see your last 20 tweets, type in “list / l”.

And if the deluge of tweets becomes too much, you can easily stop and start the service when needed. Just send your TweetSwitch contact the “stop” command; you’ll soon see a message confirming that service has been suspended. This doesn’t prevent you from sending or reading tweets elsewhere, it just suspends the TweetSwitch service from bringing them to you in Yahoo! Messenger. Similarly, message “start” and you’ll be up and running again.

I originally learned about TweetSwitch from a TechCrunch article. When I tried it a few days ago, there were some lags in the service, presumably because they got a quick flood of people trying it out. It is still in alpha mode so don’t expect perfection. But if you’d like to start receiving and sending your tweets within Yahoo! Messenger, TweetSwitch offers an easy way to do it.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

The updates feature in Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 allows you to share updates from a variety of outside sites and services with your Yahoo! friends.

When you elect to share your latest Twitter tweets with anyone, friends that have you on their Messenger contact list will be able to see them.

To start sharing your Twitter activity with your Messenger friends, first go to the Share More page on your profile and select Twitter from the list. You’ll be asked to enter your Twitter username. (Note that if you don’t see Twitter in the Share More list, you may already be sharing your updates. In that case, move onto the next step below.)

Then go to the Manage My Updates page. Find Twitter in the list and choose one of three options from the drop-down menu:

Anyone – Your latest tweets will be shared with anyone who is connected to you on Yahoo!. That means friends on Yahoo! Messenger or friends that you’ve connected with on your Yahoo! profile.

My Connections – Your tweets are only shared with people you have explicitly connected with via your Yahoo! Profile.

No one – Your tweets will not be shared with any Yahoo! friends.

To share your tweets with all of your Messenger friends, be sure you select “Anyone” from the menu. Your latest tweet will appear under your name in their Yahoo! Messenger 9.0 contact list or on your contact card.

Happy tweeting!

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

This week we are expanding the types of updates that can be shared with your Yahoo! Messenger friends. Now when you make updates on the Yahoo! network at places like Yahoo! Movies, Sports, Shopping, Travel, or on other social websites like Twitter, YouTube, Last.fm, and more, you can instantly share it with your friends on Yahoo! Messenger. All told, you can now share updates from dozens of Yahoo! services and nearly twenty non-Yahoo! websites (full list at the end of this post).

To get started, you need to have a Yahoo! profile (it’s free). Once you’ve set that up, go to the Manage my Updates section where you can indicate the sites from which you want to share updates. For non-Yahoo! services, located under “Share More”, you’ll also need to indicate your username. If you tend to use the same username for various services, our handy tool can quickly find your accounts.

TIP: When you’re on the Manage my Updates page, be sure to click the “Show All Yahoo! Sources” link to view all the Yahoo! sites that offer updates. And for the non-Yahoo! sites, click the “Share More” tab to view what’s available

For each site, you’ll see a list of the kinds of activities that will be shared. For example if you rate a movie on Yahoo! Movies or upload photos to Flickr, that will generate an update to your friends. Similarly if you upload a video to YouTube, tweet on Twitter or listen to music on Last.fm, those updates can be shared with your friends on Messenger.

For each site, there are different sharing options (including None if you don’t want to share updates from a particular site). In order to share an update with your friends on Yahoo! Messenger, make sure that you select “Anyone” for that site. By default, Yahoo! sites are already set to share your updates with anyone (at the time you make the update on a particular Yahoo! site, you’ll be notified that it’s going to be shared).

When you make an update on Yahoo! or on another supported site, it will appear below your status message on your friend’s contact lists (if they’re using Yahoo! Messenger 9.0). Here’s an example showing Dee’s latest update from Twitter:

The message below a friend in your contact list shows their latest update. To see their last ten updates, click on their display image and look at the list in their contact card.

Similarly, you can also see your own recent updates by clicking your display image at the top of the Messenger window to reveal your contact card. Your contact card also has a handy “Manage My Updates” link in case you need to make changes to what updates you’re sharing and with whom.

Updates are a great way to share what you’re up to with your friends. Now when you do things like rate movies, upload videos, comment on blogs, listen to music, or review a local restaurant, your friends can get in on the fun.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager

P.S. – We realize not all users like to share online. So if you’re not up for sharing any updates, just go to your Yahoo! Profile and uncheck the “Share My Updates” box at the top of the Manage My Updates page. But take a look at the list of services – you may find one you want to share with your Messenger friends.

List of supported sites
Updates from dozens of Yahoo! services are supported including Movies, Sports, Games, Video, Answers, Buzz, Local and more. Visit Manage My Updates to see the full list of Yahoo! sites that are supported (be sure to click the “Show All Yahoo! Sources” link).

Below is the list of non-Yahoo! sites that we currently support. More services will get added so check your Yahoo! Profile page regularly to see what’s new!

Even if you don’t personally use Twitter to communicate with friends, it can be a fascinating place to see what other people are talking about. Enter Yahoo! Sideline, a new desktop program that allows you to create and group custom Twitter searches by topics of interest. Here’s how it works…

Download Yahoo! Sideline

After you install Sideline and open up the program, you’ll be in the Trends tab. This is a list of popular topics on Twitter by keyword. When I first tried Sideline this week, I was intrigued by a trend on the list, “Susan Boyle”, so I had to see what all the buzz was about (I’m glad I did!). If you see a trend in the list you want to keep tabs on, click the “+” sign to the right. That will add it as its own tab so even if the trend falls off the top list, you can still track it on your own.

The real power of Sideline comes when you customize it to keep tabs on your own interests. We launched our new Yahoo! Messenger for iPhone app last week so I wanted to see what the Twitter community was saying about it. I clicked the “+” sign at the top near the group tabs, and entered a name for my search group (Messenger). Then I clicked the “Add Search Term” button on the right. From there, I entered the keywords I wanted Sideline to search for in the Twitter stream such as “yahoo messenger” and “messenger iphone”.

There are also “Advanced Search” options which let you select additional criteria for your search such as attitudes (positive or negative tone of comments), specific people (you’ll need to know their twitter IDs), and phrases and tags. All in all, a good set of filters to help you zero in on the tweets you care about most.

You can also add multiple search terms for a group; as you add them they stack up on the right hand side. For example, I could also add a search for one of our competitor’s iPhone apps if I wanted to keep tabs on that.

You can keep Sideline open on your desktop and it will refresh automatically with the latest tweets that match your search (or click refresh to hurry it up). Each group tab updates with the number of new matches that it finds.

When reviewing the tweets in a group, you’ll see two icons to the right – a star and a talk bubble. Click the star to add it to your Favorites tab, or click the talk balloon to reply to the tweet via Twitter.com (you’ll need a Twitter account). You can also click on the ID of the tweeter to visit their Twitter page.

We hope you enjoy playing around with Yahoo! Sideline. For a further deep dive check out this video review/demo. And if you want to give the Sideline team your feedback, you can connect with them on Twitter.

Sarah Bacon
Product Manager