The relaunched service offers improved privacy settings and provides people with a central dashboard aggregating real time updates from social networks, starting with Facebook.
“We are bringing all of these elements together to give people one simple, trusted place to share information and connect. It’s key to helping Yahoo extend our reach and increase engagement,” said Cody Simms, senior director of social platforms and Yahoo Developer Network (YDN) at Yahoo.
According to social media site Mashable, the privacy menu will apply to multiple services. The feature will be an important draw given Facebook's recent privacy issues.
Mashable adds that the privacy angle is also pertinent when you consider the privacy errors that hindered the launch of competitor service Google Buzz. "Those faux pas and the lack of Facebook integration prevented Buzz from becoming a killer application. Pulse is Yahoo’s answer to Buzz; maybe it learned from its rival’s mistakes," the article stated.
According to a Yahoo press statement, Yahoo offers simple controls so that everyone can change who sees their updates, or turn off their updates stream at any time.