14 DAY TRIAL // There is no doubt Yahoo Messenger is a very popular instant messaging client since millions of consumers from all around the world use it every day. Have you ever tried to find someone on Yahoo Messenger using his nickname or his real name? If the answer is yes, you probably noticed that it's impossible.
If no, you might be able to do this very soon. Or not. Sarah Bacon, Product Manager at Yahoo, presented a new technology rolled out at Hack Days which is supposed to find your friends' friends. It sounds a little bit ambiguous but it isn't. Have a look at the picture attached to the article and you'll know what I mean. All you need to do is type someone's ID and you'll see how many YM users added the content to their list.
"This is not a new concept - just visit any social networking service like MySpace or Facebook to see it in action. However unlike those social networks, the relevancy is higher in Discovr because they are direct contacts of your hand-picked IM friends; you have some context and basis for a relationship with them," the Yahoo representative stated.
The bad news? This was only a project presented by a team working at Yahoo and there is no chance to see it implemented in Yahoo Messenger anytime soon. At least this is what the Sunnyvale company's official says. "Clearly any social networking feature like this requires user controls, but it's interesting to consider the possibilities this new direction could open up for Yahoo! Messenger users. Remember, this is just a concept from Hack Day and though team Discovr built a compelling prototype, it's not something you'll see in Yahoo! Messenger in the near future."
However, it would be quite a good idea to see a similar feature in a future version of Yahoo Messenger because at this time, you're not able to search for an ID from the instant messaging client.