Yahoo! Inc. today formally unveiled the newest version of its popular Yahoo! Messenger service.
The all-new Yahoo! Messenger gives consumers a more personal and interactive instant messaging (IM) experience by offering leading Yahoo! services like LAUNCHcast Internet radio, Yahoo! Games, Yahoo! AddressBook, and Yahoo! Search right in the messaging window, plus expressive features including Avatars and Audibles. Consumers have flocked to this deeper integration and enhanced self-expression with more than 1.5 million people helping the company test the new service since April 26, when a preview version was made available.
“With the all-new Yahoo! Messenger we are using the power of the Yahoo! network to create an essential communications hub for our users,” said Lisa Pollock Mann, senior director of messaging products. “We are thrilled with the enthusiasm we have heard thus far, with over 90% of survey respondents telling us that they would recommend the all-new Yahoo! Messenger to their friends.(1)”
The most popular features during the preview included: AddressBook, Audibles, Avatars, Display Images, and the LAUNCHcast Internet radio service; demonstrating that people were already exploring the powerful and expressive features of the new service. Consistent with users’ favorite features from the preview, Yahoo! has added more to the full product:
- Flirt and Taunt with Audibles: IM isn’t just text anymore with the introduction of expressive verbal animations. Yahoo! Messenger is more than doubling the Audible selection with 32 new Audibles and a new Insults category to add to the range of expression.
- Press a Button: Send a Photo: Share pictures with friends and family instantaneously by taking advantage of the redesigned Yahoo Photos IMVironment® by clicking on a new button in the IM window. It has never been more fun and simple to share your photos while instant messaging.
- Who Do You Want to Be?: People are creating Avatars with numerous combinations of hairstyles, clothing and accessories to express themselves while instant messaging. With the preview service, the most popular Avatar items included city and beach backgrounds, chandelier earrings and grey sunglasses and now new ethnicities, and accessories like a bicycle and a surfboard, are giving users even more choices.
Messenger Live — The Debut of ‘Reality Advertising’
The Yahoo! Messenger Live IM promotion adds a new twist to conventional use of online advertisements. For the first time, millions of visitors to Yahoo! will be able to watch and vote through banner ads and a special microsite, as seven pairs of finalists compete to win the hearts and minds of voters across America. The pairs, selected from thousands of people nationwide, will have their IM conversations broadcast live, via Internet advertisements. People who have downloaded the all-new Yahoo! Messenger will be able to vote for their favorite IMers and be eligible to win a trip to Hawaii to hang out with the winning pair. Each night, the pair with the lowest number of votes will be eliminated and the last pair standing will win a week-long trip to Hawaii.
The promotion runs from June 1 to June 8, with competing pairs instant messaging from 8 – 11 pm EDT, each night (except Friday and Saturday) while America watches.
Yahoo! Messenger has unveiled the seven pairs who will be participating in the promotion. They include users from: Huntsville, AL; Berkeley, CA; Hayward, CA; Redwood City, CA; Addison, IL; Lexington, KY; Lawrence, MA; Bowie, MD; Mount Ranier, MD; Stillwater, OK; Austin, TX. The winners of the promotion will be announced on June 11, 2004. See it at: http://messenger.yahoo.com/live.
Source: Yahoo’s press release
