Today, we are proud to announce that Yazzem is now a member of the Teens in Tech Networks. We were in the talks for quite a while now, however we know we made the right move. This will allow Yazzem to grow to new heights and help us grow.

Now, nothing will change here at Yazzem. Everything will pretty much stay the same. Dustin and I will still be in charge, and all of the great team members will still be developing.

This is very exciting to release this news to everyone.

Thanks,
Zachary Collins

As Yazzem grows, so does our team. Which means tonight, I would like to introduce Manu Gill and Mohamed Elmejjati to the Yazzem team. These two fantastic developers will be working on some very exciting products and features launching soon.

Manu Gill joined a few weeks ago and I never welcomed him officially here on the blog (sorry). However, working with Manu for the past couple of months have been amazing. He knows exactly what to do and how to get it done quickly with no errors, along with creating the amazing Jangsher.com. Manu is definitely the type of team member we are looking for. Welcome (officially) to the team Manu!

Mohamed Elmejjati is the newest team member I would like to welcome. He has worked on several projects such as Zik4 and also knows how to develop for Facebook. I am very impressed with his work and we are very excited to be adding him to the team! Welcome to the team Mohamed.

In the next few weeks and months, expect to be seeing some amazing new things!

Don’t worry, we’re still all alive here at Yazzem. We’ve just been working on some very exciting new features, which will start the new year (and new decade) off to a great start. Here are the plans for 2010 on top of still continuing to work on our road map:

• An API for developers to access and modify Yazzem data has been in the plans almost since the first lines of code were written for Yazzem. However, we didn’t want to say anything until we were certain everything could be done easily – and that we had enough features and data to make our API powerful. Within the next few weeks (around a month) we’ll be rolling out the Yazzem API to any developer willing to make an awesome mashup built on top of the Yazzem platform.
• About a month ago we were rolling out new features almost every week. Unfortunately, we kind of ignored that whole awesome idea for a while. Starting next week, you should see a new feature on Yazzem. Then the week after that, another new feature will be released…and so on.

As you can probably imagine, we definitely have a lot of other major plans for 2010, but there are too many to list here. Expect a lot in 2010 – seriously.

Happy New Year,
The Yazzem Team

We usually launch new features every couple of weeks, however we thought it would be cool to let you know what’s coming. Me and Dustin put together a road map for the next three months of the things we will be working on. It’s not in order, but we hope to have all of these things checked off around the end of January.

• Customizable designs – We offer some great designs for users to choose from, however one can’t upload a custom background or change the colors. In a few weeks, we are adding customizable designs for all users.
• AJAX all across Yazzem – Every time you post a comment, update your status, subscribe to a user, etc. the page refreshes. With AJAX, we can change that and add a smoother feel to Yazzem.
• Upload photos on status updates – This has been in the plans for a while, however we thought it would make Yazzem even more powerful by allowing a user to upload photos for their status. A small thumbnail of that picture will show next to the status, which one can hover over and see the “big image”.
• Language packs – We’ve noticed an increased percentage of visitors coming from other countries, so we decided it would be a good idea to have different languages for one to choose from. If they post anything in their language that you don’t understand, their post will automatically be converted to your language.
• SMS notifications – Eventually you’ll be able to type in your cell number and phone carrier and be notified by SMS of any new messages, comments, etc.
• iPhone app – Right now, we just offer m.yazzem.com, so we knew eventually we were going to need an iPhone app that you can easily access with the flick/touch of a finger. More news will come on this later.
• Palm App – Another mobile app in the works right now is Yazzem Mojo, for the Palm Pre and Palm Pixi. This will offer you great functionality to use wherever you go with your Palm device.

We may add some new things over time to this road map, but this is what we have so far. Please let us know if you have any suggestions.

Thanks,
The Yazzem Team

Update: Private messaging is now live!

For the past few days, we have been hard at work on a brand new feature that will bring a new level of communication to Yazzem – private messaging.

Every user will have their own Inbox where they can send messages to others. Reply to messages sent to you and even attach a file.

Here are some screenshots:

And for those who just need to know, here is that really cool picture (which is just a redesign of Google I designed for fun):

We’ll have more details when we launch it tomorrow!

Thanks,
The Yazzem Team

Tonight is a very exciting night with the launch of Twitter integration, @mentions, status comments, Latest Activity filter, the ability to delete comments, and some other, minor upgrades. At first, we were just expecting to launch status comments and the Latest Activity, but that little project soon turned into a major upgrade to Yazzem. These new features have been requested many times, and now we are glad to be making them available to everyone!

Here is the list of new features:

Twitter integration – Since you can update your status on Yazzem, we thought it would be cool if you could have those updates posted to Twitter, too. So, now you can connect your Yazzem account with Twitter by going into Settings > Twitter > and then entering your Twitter credentials.

@mentions – An @mention is when you mention/reply to someone in a comment or status update by putting an @ symbol before their username. So, for example, @dustin would link to Dustin Snider’s profile. You can keep track of all your mentions by going to the new Mentions page, found in the navigation.

Status Comments – Status updates now show a link called ‘comment’, which allows anyone to leave a thought on a status.

Latest Activity Filter – We noticed that the Latest Activity timeline can become crowded with updates about topics. So, we created a filter that filters out the updates you don’t want to see. Meaning, you can view just statuses, or just topic updates.

The ability to delete comments/statuses – We added a small blue trashcan next to your comments/statuses, just in case you make a mistake, etc.

Hope you all like the new updates, and let us know what you think!

Thanks,
Zachary Collins
CEO/Founder

Over the past couple weeks, after launching 2.0, we have been making some pretty big improvements. Last Saturday night, we launched Simple Profile URLs. Tonight, we are launching another new feature – the Support Center.

The Support Center will make it really easy to contact us and ask questions when you need help. Just Open a new ticket, and you’ll be able to easily reply back and forth with a Support staff member.

Just visit http://support.yazzem.com when you have a question!

Much thanks to Dustin for working on this!

Thanks,
Zachary Collins
Founder/CEO

Tonight, we launched Simple Profile URLs, which makes it easy to share your profile with anyone. Here is the email I sent out explaining everything:

Tonight, we are introducing new easy to share Profile URLs! Meaning each profile now has a simple address you can send anyone to.

Example: http://yazzem.com/user/zack
All you would have to do is replace “zack” with your username.

Hope you like it, and remember, we love your feedback!

Thanks,
Zachary Collins
Founder/CEO

Over the past 3 months, Yazzem has definitely come a long way. From being a tool that let’s you start and join topics, to something jammed packed with great features. With the launch of 2.0, we opened the doors to so many new opportunities that will soon show.

Below is just a fun collection of how Yazzem has evolved over the past few months:

Thanks,
Zachary Collins
Founder/CEO

I am proud to announce that the talented designer, Felipe Gomez, has joined the Yazzem team! He has already designed most of the graphics, including the logo and the themes we now offer.

It is very exciting to have him part of the team, because let’s face it, we needed a designer – and Felipe is one of the best out there.

Welcome to the team Felipe!

Thanks,
Zachary Collins
Founder/CEO