Press Release
Yahoo!'S Talking With Yahoo! Chat
Facebook
LinkedIn
Twitter"Our users have made Yahoo!'s other community services -- local classifieds, personals and message boards -- very popular, and chat has been one of the most requested services from the Yahoo! community," said Jeff Mallett, senior vice president of business operations at Yahoo!. "As the leading navigational guide, Yahoo! has established a comprehensive directory, unique and compelling programming, and now expanded community services. With Yahoo! Chat, Yahoo! is continuing to provide users with free-of-charge, interesting services that bring together our worldwide community."
"We are thrilled that Yahoo! chose to partner with ichat to create the optimal chat experience for users looking to connect real-time to the larger online community on Yahoo!," said Andrew Busey, founder and chief technology officer at ichat. "By combining Yahoo!'s diverse content and easy-to-use interface with ichat's leading chat technology, Yahoo! Chat offers one of the best interactive, communications mediums for the millions of Yahoo! users around the world."
Chat Rooms for Everyone
As with all Yahoo! properties, the interface for Yahoo! Chat is
intuitive, making it easy for all levels of users to chat.
Individuals visiting Yahoo! Chat will find a multitude of chat rooms
containing topics that cover most individuals' interests. In
addition, a "Create Room" feature allows users to create their own
chat rooms, which can be designated as either public or private
depending on user preference. Chatters can also choose the level of
language filter that they want, allowing them to filter out words
they deem unacceptable for their room. All of Yahoo!'s chat rooms use
a moderate level of language filtering.
Yahoo! Chat is available on the local metro Yahoo!s and will be integrated throughout Yahoo!'s most popular interest areas such as "Sports" and "Entertainment". Yahoo! Chat also allows users to navigate the Web while chatting and introduce URLs into the chat dialogue for other chatters to check out. In addition, Yahoo! Chat will interject Yahoo! content, such as sports scores or local news, into the chat dialogue where appropriate. Yahoo! Chat available
Advertising
Yahoo! Chat provides advertisers with an optimal opportunity to
target specific audiences within a popular and dynamic environment.
Features such as Yahoo!'s topic-based chat rooms deliver an ideal
platform for reaching dynamic audiences.
|
Yahoo! Chat Basic Features |
Description/Benefit |
|
Buddies |
Helps monitor when user's "buddies" are in chat |
|
Dynamic Room Creation |
Once a room reaches 25 chatters, a duplicate room is automatically created |
|
Edit Identity |
Gives individuals the option to edit their current identities |
|
Emotions |
Provides users with the ability to "emote" within the chat dialogue (i.e. Chatmeister grins evily or Chatqueen laughs at Chatmeister) for added depth within chat conversations |
|
Privacy Features |
Gives users more control over privacy -- examples include "send private message" and "ignore" |
|
Room List |
Shows users the list of rooms available and how many users are in each room |
|
Web Integration |
Gives chatters the ability to surf the Web while chatting; also, allows users to inject URLs into the chat dialogue for others to view |
|
Who's Online |
Provides users with a list of profiles of other chatters currently online |
About Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), offers a globally-branded Internet
navigational service to information and entertainment on the Web. As
the first online guide to the Web, Yahoo! is one of the most visible
and recognizable names associated with the Internet. Yahoo! provides
a context-based directory structure for Internet resources, as well
as integrated AltaVista Web-wide search capabilities. The Company is
continuing to develop a global family of Yahoo!-branded media
properties for targeted geographic (Yahoo! Japan, UK, France,
Germany, Canada, San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York,
Chicago, Washington DC, Boston); shared-interest (Yahoo! Internet
Life magazine and website and MTV/Yahoo!'s online music guide); and
demographic audiences (Yahooligans!, a Web guide for kids and a
women's-oriented service with Women's Wire). Yahoo! can be found on
the web at www.yahoo.com. Yahoo! Inc. headquarters are in Santa
Clara, California.
Press Contacts:
Jennifer Hwang
Yahoo!
(408) 731-3362
jenhwang@yahoo-inc.com
Blaise Simpson,
NRG Public Relations
(415) 827-7065
blaise@nrgpr.com
Caryn Marooney
Blanc & Otus Public Relations
(415)-512-0500
caryn@bando.com