Yahoo! Announces Yahoo! 360 Service

Yahoo! has announced a new service, Yahoo! 360, set to launch as an invitation-only beta on March 29th. The service is intended to offer users integrated experience, bringing together communications, content, and community services such as Yahoo! Messenger, Yahoo! Photos, Yahoo! Local, LAUNCHcast Music and Yahoo! Groups with new services like blogs, moblogging, and other sharing tools for recommending favorite movies, restaurants, music, and more. The company plans to add additional features and functionality throughout the beta period.

Yahoo! 360 also will allow consumers to tap their friends to get advice, share knowledge or entertain each other, to make their Yahoo! network experience even more personalized and relevant. For example, consumers will have the option to first view those restaurants or businesses their friends have rated or reviewed on Yahoo! Local, as well as link to their friends' LAUNCHcast Radio stations and more. Consumers will also be able to easily see all their contacts from Yahoo! Messenger, Address Book and Groups in one place and take these friends with them across the Yahoo! network.

Consumers included in the Yahoo! 360 beta can test out initial features, including: Create a blog, post entries, or pictures from mobile devices, view friends' blog entries at Yahoo! 360, My Yahoo!, Yahoo!'s Mobile Internet service, or through any RSS reader; Share Yahoo! Photos content and upload new photos from mobile devices; Send and receive instant messages via Yahoo! Messenger and see when friends are online from the Yahoo! 360 "My Friends" page; Share a quick idea, a Web site, or ask for a recommendation with the Yahoo! 360 "blast" feature; manage contracts with a centralized list of all Yahoo! Messenger, Groups, and Address Book contacts; and Recommend favorite books, movies, TV shows, and restaurants to friends and associates.