Yahoo Messenger adds plugins, Y!360 alerts

Yahoo Messenger plugin

Yahoo! Messenger now supports plugins, allowing developers to reach a potential audience of 60 million users inside their IM client with HTML and JavaScript. The new plugins can be integrated directly into a chat window or inside a user’s contact list view.

Yahoo scoreboard pluginYahoo Calendar messenger plugin

Messenger plugins provide easy access to a user’s favorite content but they can also interact with a contact and his or her actions. If your baseball-loving friend logs in the scoreboard plugin could be activated so you have something current to talk about. You can even pre-format a message with the latest statistic from the game. The in-conversation plugins are similar to a shared browsing experience but also useful for bots. Imagine querying IMDB or Wikipedia directly from your IM window to settle arguments quickly.

Yahoo! released a new beta version of Yahoo! Messenger with a few plugins and new features bundled in. If you use Yahoo! 360 you can now receive alerts from any of your contacts’ aggregated content such as Yahoo! Local reviews, Flickr photos, or even alerts on any new blog posting. I believe Yahoo! is the first major IM client to include update alerts on any RSS feed configured by your friends on their profile.