Yahoo plans Groups improvements

Update 12:41 p.m. PDT: I corrected a reference that should have been to Yahoo.

Yahoo has begun sharing some future plans it has for Groups, its service where people with shared interests can get together online through mailing lists, calendars, polls, and other features.

In the "coming year," Yahoo plans to add many attributes that expand the scope of groups, according to the Yahoo Groups blog on Tuesday. Those features include tools for product reviews, service directories, wanted boards, address books, and event planners.

And upgrades to existing features include: a better system for hosting photos that permits more storage and larger pictures; better message boards; the ability to store e-mail attachments; and the ability to set the site for non-English languages.

There's no official word about whether there will be room for some of the sharing and collaboration that's coming with Yahoo Open Strategy on Groups, but it seems possible to me. For example, hosting OpenSocial widgets that are available to members of the group seems a natural fit.

Yahoo already has launched a Groups Lab, a team that creates new features such as the recently released People Map beta test that shows group members' locations on a map.

[niccynet]

"In the "coming year," Google plans to add many attributes that expand the scope of groups, according to the Yahoo Groups blog" ........... too much G exposure

[Shankland]

Too much Google exposure is right. Thanks for the note--I fixed it.

[SphereCat1]

Yeah, i don't think Google runs Yahoo groups...

[JCPayne]

Yeah right....... They wrecked EGroups.com and the wrecked Yahoo Clubs! (The forerunner to Groups.) So what is the point now?