Yahoo has linked the US version of Yahoo News with Facebook, allowing users to share articles they’ve read on the news site with Facebook friends.
The opt-in News Activity feature appears as a ‘facebar’ of friends’ profile pictures’ clicking on one shows what that person has been reading. Yahoo news activities will also appear on their Facebook profiles.
“Now, we are bringing you the ability to discover great stories through your friends. Just like you do in real life,” says the company on its blog.
“You can now immerse yourself in the news on Yahoo surrounded by the comfort of your friends. Let them be your guides on what to read.”
Also new is a Facebook link for IntoNow, a mobile app that helps users find and share favorite television programs. This, too, will be aggregated on people’s Facebook profile under ‘Most Watched’ and ‘Most Recently Watched’.
The new features are already available in the US, and will be rolled out internationally over the next few months. The company says it’s part of an increased focus on social networking and personalization – some 80 percent of Yahoo users have Facebook accounts, it says.
It has occurred to Yahoo that some of us, just occasionally, might read or watch something that we don’t want the world and his dog to know about – and for these occasions it’s possible to turn the feature off in both Yahoo News and Facebook for a specific item.
Won’t it be fun when people forget?
