Noteworthy: We're open. Have at it.

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We're open. Have at it.

Posted October 28th, 2008 at 12:22 pm by Jay Rossiter, Yahoo! Open Strategy

Filed in: Trends & News

Back in April, we rolled out our vision for a more open Yahoo! -- with "open" defined as rewiring Yahoo! so we could 1) open our network to outside innovation, 2) unlock the power of your social relationships, and 3) mesh your Yahoo! experience with other sites to bring you the best of the Web.

Today that vision takes another important step forward. We're officially cutting the ribbon for talented developers everywhere, who are now welcome to come in and access our tools and data so they can build applications for a more customized, social, and relevant Yahoo! network and beyond.

I won't bore you with the plumbing -- you can head over to our developer network for those details -- but let me summarize the potential impact on you the user as developers dig in and begin to build their applications.

Most obvious will be the social aspects. At a high level, we're rolling out a social platform that will draw on the hundreds of millions of connections on Yahoo! - everything from random encounters with someone who commented on the same photo as you, to deep connections you have with friends who know nearly everything about you. By using the social contacts you already have on Yahoo! -- through Mail, Messenger, Flickr, Finance, Fantasy Sports, etc. -- we'll make those social connections more active and useful. Most importantly, by enabling developers to make your social connections specific to the Yahoo! service you're using, we believe you'll enjoy some incredibly unique and creative new experiences that we would never have thought of.