We all know that the Web makes the world a much smaller place, and we have some great news to share today that will make your Web world smaller and easier, while at the same time expanding your social world online! We’re partnering with Twitter to integrate their real-time social experience into our global network.

What does this mean for you? Very soon, you will be able to see your Twitter feed on Yahoo! just as easily as you use Yahoo! to consume all of the other great content you love from across the Web. Through today’s partnership, along with our recently announced Facebook relationship, Yahoo! is giving your online social life wings to help you stay in touch with the people and things you care about most across the Web. It’s part of our strategy to ensure that Yahoo! delivers the people and things that matter most to you!

Want to see your friends’ latest Twitter posts? Or update your Twitter feed with stories and content from Yahoo!? Or check out trending topics and public updates? You no longer need to stop what you’re doing to see what’s going on with your Twitterverse — you’ll be able to do it all from Yahoo!.

As part of Yahoo!’s Open Strategy (Y!OS) to make the Web more open and relevant, we’re helping you zero in on what’s important to you:

• Coming Soon: Read your personal Twitter feeds directly from Yahoo!’s many products and properties, including the homepage, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Sports, and others — anywhere you can see Yahoo! Updates across our network.
• Coming Soon: Update your Twitter status and share content from Yahoo! in your Twitter stream — we’ve made it even easier to share what’s going on with your friends and followers on Yahoo! and Twitter.
• Coming Soon: Whenever you produce social actions on any website (like comments on articles, ratings, buzzes on Yahoo! Buzz) that you’ve allowed to appear on Yahoo! Updates, those actions can also be shared automatically with your friends on Twitter. (Pssst: Publishers and developers interested in learning more about Yahoo! Updates, including publishing directly into it or using Yahoo! Buzz or the Yahoo! Application Platform as ways of driving social traffic to your site, look here , here and here.
• Coming Soon: Yahoo! media properties like News, Finance, Entertainment, and Sports will include real-time public Twitter updates, allowing you to get a quick pulse-check on topics, trending and otherwise.
• Available Today: Yahoo! Search users will immediately see real-time Twitter results starting today.

The real-time Search integration is available immediately, with other features of the integration to be launched later this year. Go on, give it a test flight: Go to Yahoo! Search to check out how we just made your Web world smaller, yet larger at the same time.

Bryan Lamkin
SVP, Consumer Products Group, Yahoo!

We just announced with Microsoft that we have reached clearance for our search agreement, without restrictions, from both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission.  We’ll now turn our attention to beginning the process of implementing the deal.

Here are some useful links to get more detailed information about today’s developments:

Search Alliance Official Website

Official Press Release

Yahoo! Search Blog

YDN Blog

Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog

Yahoo! Transition Center

Video: Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz discusses Yahoo! & Microsoft’s new Search Alliance: Click here

Video: Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz talks about Yahoo’s continued innovation in search: Click here

Official US DOJ Antitrust Division statement: Click here

We will continue to update Yodel with new information today and throughout the process.

Yahoo! Hong Kong conducted a survey to find out about consumer behavior and retail trends during Valentine’s Day. Incidentally, this year, the first day of Chinese New Year (CNY) also falls on 14 February. The last time these two occasions clashed was 57 years ago.

The survey was conducted with more than 1,000 respondents, 80% of which were born in the 70s or the 80s. 50% of them, who are either in a relationship or married said they will be celebrating the day with both their partner and family, while 34% chose to celebrate Valentine’s Day before or after 14 February.

Other interesting survey highlights include:

1.    52% of the respondents who have “someone special” in mind, said that they will not confess their love to that person on Valentine’s Day since it is also CNY and the “atmosphere and mood” is not quite right.

2.    Consumer confidence is growing steadily in Hong Kong and the survey shows that 66% plan to spend five to ten percent more for Valentine’s Day this year, or have the same budget as last year. 15% of the respondents plan to spend between US$250 – 650 on gifts for their partner.

3.    Nearly 50% of the female respondents prefer gifts that are more personalised, unique and practical. They also said that the most unwanted Valentine’s Day gifts include flowers, chocolates, soft toys, health and beauty products.

4.    About half of the respondents who are either in a relationship or married shared that they will use less gift packaging to be more environmentally friendly.

5.    20% of the male respondents would like to spend Valentine’s Day in ShenZhen, China while 20% of the female respondents wish to spend the day in Paris. None of the male respondents chose Paris as an option.

6.    80% of the respondents who are single revealed that they will use online match-making services like Yahoo! Personals to find a potential partner or to meet more people through social gatherings.

According to Lisa Tam, public relations manager of Yahoo! Hong Kong, VIP members of Yahoo! Personals are invited to send messages to other members in the hopes of finding someone special and stand to win prizes during this special festive season.

Internet users can also visit Yahoo! Hong Kong Auction site to purchase Valentine’s Day and CNY gifts for their loved ones.

Want to use your Yahoo! ID to tap into Arianna Huffington’s mind? How about any of the other contributors on the Huffington Post? If so, we have some good news. Starting today, you can use your Yahoo! ID to log into the Huffington Post with just a couple of clicks.

This is just one of the new features Huffington Post has enabled by tapping into our Yahoo! Open Strategy (Y!OS) platform. Y!OS is built on the idea that Yahoo! is more fun and personally relevant when we’re open to the best of the Web and when we make it easy for you to share and connect with who matters to you on Yahoo!. And in addition to letting you use your trusted Yahoo! ID on the Huffington Post, Y!OS technology is also powering two other great new features that are live today.

The first is Yahoo! Updates. Once you’ve logged into the Huffington Post with your Yahoo! ID, you’ll also be able to automatically share the comments you make there with your friends and contacts on popular products like Yahoo! Mail and Yahoo! Messenger.

The second is a new application for the Yahoo! Homepage that you can use to get a quick view into the hottest Huffington Post articles across 80 categories in a matter of seconds.

Finally, we’re also teaming up with the Huffington Post through Yahoo! News to feature and develop specialized articles, opinion pieces and reporting. Across Yahoo! we’re always looking for ways to bring you great content, whether it’s our own original reporting through our Yahoo! Newsroom Blogs, or from great sites like the Huffington Post, a leading voice in digital news.

To get started trying out these capabilities and sync up your Huffington Post and Yahoo! experiences, head over to the Huffington Post and click on the log in with Yahoo! ID button, install the new Huffington Post App on Yahoo.com or head straight to Yahoo! News.  Or better yet, try all three.

And if you run your own Web site and want to learn how to integrate with Yahoo!, check out our Yahoo! Developer Network and behind the scenes look at how Huffington Post did it. We’re excited to hear what you think.

Greg Cohn

Director of Strategy & Business Development for the Yahoo! Platform Technology Group

Come build a snowman that’s totally YOU! Have fun making your snowballs, choosing facial features and adding expressive arms. Then add your background theme—everything from holiday patterns to tropical islands—and top it off with props like a Yahoo! Pashmina, sombrero, cell phone or pet panda.

And once you have created your own winter wonderland, you can share it with friends and family by sending a link with Yahoo! Mail or Yahoo! Messenger, or you can post it on Facebook or Twitter.

Happy Holidays from your friends at Yahoo!

Build your own snowman at: snowman.yahoo.com

It’s hard to believe that just over a month ago we kicked-off our search for the next generation of Yahoo! yodelers. This casting call heard ‘round the world brought celebrities and yodelers alike to Yodel Studio recording booths in New York City, London and Mumbai, not to mention all of you who joined in from home and submitted your best (and maybe first?) yodel at http://yodelstudio.yahoo.com.

After narrowing the choices down from more than 21,000 submissions to three finalists in the US, UK and India, and a week of public voting, we have our Platinum winners. Congratulations to:

•    Tiffany Jo Allen of Tucson, AZ
•    Katherine Skene of St. Andrews, UK
•    Ankitaa Bhattacharji of Mumbai, India

We meant it when we said it that Platinum winners would have the chance to be featured on one of the world’s largest stages: the Yahoo! homepage. Go to Yahoo.com, click on the Yahoo! exclamation point at the top left of the page and you’ll hear Tiffany Jo Allen’s yodel (Soon, you’ll here the other winners on the UK and India homepages too!). For the next week, you’ll hear Tiffany Jo’s talented voice on the Yahoo! homepage.

While only three yodels are official Platinum winners, many more blew us away with their passion and creativity. Be sure to check out the honorable mentions area of http://yodelstudio.yahoo.com to experience a wide range of yodeling genius – from R&B to country duets to death metal, no musical stone was left unturned.  Thanks for sharing in this part of Yahoo! history.

Brian Mullin
Senior Director, Buzz Marketing

While industry analysts estimate that about 1.6 billion people are on the Internet today, this still leaves three out of every four people on this planet without access.

This Sunday, at the Internet Governance Forum’s annual meeting, Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang delivered a keynote address to discuss the impact of the Internet on people’s lives, the need to get the next billion people online and the importance of providing those next billion–in emerging markets and beyond–with locally relevant content and communications tools.

“The Internet isn’t just about getting as many people online as possible,” said Jerry Yang. “But making sure that once they’re online, they have something productive to do, something to gain, something meaningful to experience.”

The IGF meeting took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and you can watch the full opening session and keynotes here.  Jerry’s speech starts at about 59 minutes into the opening session, directly after Tim Berners-Lee.

In addition to the IGF keynote, Jerry is meeting with customers, employees and both local and U.S. government officials while in the region.

Yahoo! recently closed the acquisition of Maktoob, the largest Arabic-language Internet site.  According to the World Bank, there are more than 320 million Arabic speakers worldwide, while less than one per cent of all online content is in Arabic.  The partnership between Maktoob and Yahoo! aims to strengthen and support Arabic content on the Internet, adapting current products to the Arabic language while also working with local developers to create new and compelling products.

When you think of Times Square, you think of people – you and me, yellow taxis and lines for the latest shows. How about sitting and chatting with friends and family?  Playing games?  Checking email? Searching for Broadway show times or dinner reservations?

Yahoo! helps you connect with the people and things that matter most to you – wherever you are, including in Times Square.  While Yahoo! is the place where your world meets the world online, over 500,000 of you take in Times Square each day and it’s become a central spot for New Yorkers and people around the world.  We and our partners at the Times Square Alliance think it’s the perfect place to bring you free WiFi service (check out the landing page here)- for  New Yawkers enjoying your cawfee breaks and out-of-towners enjoying the Big Apple. Fuggedaboutit!

And don’t worry if you don’t have a laptop in Times Square – you can also access the service from your WiFi-enabled mobile phone. All you need to do is enable the WiFi feature on your phone, open your browser and click on the “Get Started” button on the mobile landing page. This will take you to Yahoo!’s mobile homepage (http://m.yahoo.com) where you can access your favorite content and services from across the Internet.

So, if you are  in New York City or will be anytime during the next year, come down (or up, depending on where you’ll be coming from) to Times Square to chat, play, search, and enjoy whatever else you do online with free WiFi service from Yahoo! and the Times Square Alliance.  And it’s all about Y!ou (in case you hadn’t heard).

Kelly Delaney
Buzz Marketing

When we asked you to Yodel like you mean it, you delivered!

After handing Yahoo!’s signature yodel over to the people – you whole-heartedly responded – by uploading more than a whopping 21,000 yodels to our online Yodel Studio! Each yodel has its own personality as unique as each of you.  There are hip-hop yodels, country yodels, rock n’ roll yodels, Bollywood yodels… I think you get the point.

Out of all of the yodels submitted, who really rocked the mic?  Based on number of views, we’ve selected the top 3 yodels from each market.  Now YOU can help us choose who will go to the next level and take it PLATINUM! Vote daily for your favorites!

U.S. Finalists:

Tiffany Jo from Arizona – Yodeling since she was five years old, “I choose to participate because I enjoy singing and yodeling. I thought it would be a great opportunity to do what I love.”

Carlo from Arizona – New to yodeling but been singing for a lifetime, “I searched through most of the songs that were available to use as background music until I found the one that brought out the most emotion out of me.”

Christopher from Oklahoma – “What inspired my Yodel was hearing all the Yahoo! Yodels in the past, and wanting to do something a little bit different! I decided to add a little bit of ME in my Yodel!”

UK Finalists:

Katherine
Hajar
James

And representing India:

Nishant
Ankitaa
Ayesha

One winning yodel will represent each country (US, UK and India) and will be featured on one of the world’s largest stages: Yahoo!’s homepage!  So declare yourself, “rock the vote” or in this case, yodel it out – in short, vote soon as polls close on November 15 (11:59pm PT) and the winner will be announced on November 16th! What are you waiting for, vote for your favorite yodel now!

It’s hard to believe that it has been over a year since Getty Images partnered with Flickr to launch the groundbreaking Flickr Collection. We wanted to provide a quick update on how the collection has grown and some of the exciting new developments in our partnership.

When launching the Flickr Collection, our goal was to choose photos that created a commercially viable collection, while preserving the inspirational and unexpected nature of the images that are so prevalent on Flickr. We’re proud to announce that today the collection has grown to over 60,000 images, many of which have been licensed by Getty Images’ customers from around the world.

Since the announcement of the partnership, editors at Getty Images have been busy exploring the Flickrverse to find the right photos to be part of the collection. While we know they’ve enjoyed viewing your work, with over four billion images, it can sometimes be an overwhelming experience!

In the past, the Flickr community could set their account settings to reflect that they wanted to be contacted by Getty Images, but could not proactively present a portfolio of photos for consideration. We know how eager the 40 million + Flickr members have been to showcase their work and wanted to develop a solution.

That’s why, today, we’re very excited to announce a formal Call for Artists, meaning ANY Flickr member can submit their work to be considered for the collection through the Call for Artists group on Flickr.

Detailed guidelines can be found on the group page, but here’s a quick snapshot on the process for submitting your photographs:  A submission should include exactly 10 images that represent what you consider to be the best of your work. The Getty Images creative team will evaluate submissions based on style, subject matter and technical skill. If some or all of the photos – or other images from your photostream – are selected for the Flickr Collection on Getty Images, you will receive an invitation via Flickrmail. This invitation will clearly show Getty Images’ initial selection of images and introduce the enrollment process.

When we first launched, we aimed to create a “living collection” – one that mirrored the vibrant Flickr community itself. Now, with the community’s help, the collection will continue to grow and bring a new flavor of photography to Getty Images and its customers — an authentic view into the daily lives of people around the world.

We at Getty Images truly can’t wait to review the portfolios of the accomplished and experienced photographers that contribute to Flickr. With the community’s help, the collection will better represent, what is, in effect, the world’s image library.

Andy Saunders
Vice President of Creative Imagery
Getty Images