Yahoo! adds Twitter, Zynga, and local deals

SAN FRANCISCO: Yahoo! on Tuesday meshed microblogging sensation Twitter and social game star Zynga into its websites as the faded Internet pioneer strived to stay relevant in a changing online world.

Yahoo! also revealed that it is testing a service that would let visitors to its properties know of local bargains customized to individual tastes.

"Yahoo! can make finding a local offer much more relevant and meaningful to deliver the best local offer to you every day," Yahoo! Local vice president Matt Idema told a press gathering at a Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

"Right now, there are far too many offers and not enough people to see them; what Yahoo! brings is scale."

Yahoo! will be able to get virtual coupons or bargains to the 180 million people in the United States that visit its websites daily, according to Idema.

The Sunnyvale, California-based firm is also improving a local search feature that promises to complement the bargain-finding service.

Yahoo! is dabbling with ways offers might work. For example, a customized deal-of-the-day could pop up when people sign into Yahoo! email or instant messaging services.

"We will be piloting the experience on various Yahoo! pages to see where it works best," Idema said.

Yahoo! said it is testing Yahoo! Offers with 20 partners, including popular online coupon service Groupon.

The service echoes a "Deals" feature launched by online social networking king Facebook on November 3.

"Deals" taps into location-sensing features of mobile phones to connect people with bargains at local shops, restaurants or bars.

While Facebook said it gets no money from promotions posted at Deals, Yahoo! said it has arranged to share in the revenue of partners in the Offers program.

Lovers of Zynga games such as FarmVille and Mafia Wars will be able to play them at Yahoo! websites beginning this week. Yahoo! also began letting people post or see Twitter tweets from its Web pages.

"We think users want choice," said Yahoo! vice president of communications product management. "You will be able to play games and share updates at Yahoo!."