Today, we have introduced two new updates to Yazzem – photo sharing on status updates and changing the 140 character limit to 200.

With photo sharing, you’ll be able to upload any photo from your computer and post it with any status update. All you have to do is click the “Photo” link under the status update box and upload a photo. Our plan is to allow mobile photo uploads so you can upload them on the go…and maybe videos someday.

Our second update (which was decided upon just a few nights ago) is changing the 140 character limit to 200. We did a lot of research and discovered that in just a text message with a 160 character limit, people still went over it. So, 200 seemed definitely reasonable (since we still wanted a limit).

You’ll also notice some other small changes to the interface, too. We hope you enjoy!

Thanks,
The Yazzem Team

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

Tonight, we are pleased to launch our SMS Notification feature. You’ll now be able to be notified by text message of any new messages, comments, or when someone subscribes to you. To activate this great new tool you just need to simply go to Settings > SMS > and type in your cell number and select your carrier. After you have entered your cell phone information and saved it, click the “send me a text” button to see if you setup everything correctly.

If you have any questions regarding this or anyting else, feel free to drop us a line in the support center.

Thanks,
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

All day I’ve been working on a much needed feature and now it’s here: Profile Comments! This means you can now visit anyone’s profile page and leave a comment for them. Give it a try by visiting my profile and leaving me a comment.

One other thing I would like to mention (and will talk more about later) is the upcoming project, Nazzem, which stands for Ning + Yazzem. Nazzem generates a code for any topic that you can place into your Ning network! Check out this screenshot to get an idea of what it does.

If you have any questions, leave me or Dustin a comment!

Thanks,
Zack
Inventor/Founder

As you probably all know (but if you didn’t yet) we are launching Yazzem this June! Since the screencast I made and uploaded, we have made a lot of improvements and added a lot more features that are “Gonna blow your socks off!” So, of course, I uploaded some new screenshots below:

What’s New?

Groups are now called Topics – not much to explain there.
Dashboard – There is a now a user Dashboard with quick links to things you can do on Yazzem.
Descriptions and Keywords – You will now be able to add a description and keywords to your topics.
Better Search – Search used to be weak and just plainly boring, but now each result shows a group description and a “join” link so you don’t have to visit the topic first and then join.

I’ll be uploading a new screencast showing off all of the new features within the next few days.

Thanks,
Zachary Collins
Founder, CEO and President

I was sitting here on the couch, and realized, why not let everyone see some screenshots of what you will be able to do with Yazzem? And so, I created this blog post and uploaded some highly confidential screenshots. (Please remember that these are mockups, and may not look the exact same when we launch.)

This is what a group will look like (you can click the image for full size):

As you can see, there is a 140 character limit. Also, when you update, your message will be displayed in a “timeline” under the textarea, even though this is not shown in the current screenshot.

Then, this is what the process will look like to create a group:

You can easily see that creating groups will literally be as simple as 123.

I’ll have some more screenshots soon, so check back later.

Thanks,
Zachary Collins
Inventor and Founder