Yahoo jumped into the location-based services arena on Tuesday with the launch of Yahoo Local Offers, a local search app available on the Yahoo search results page.
The company also unveiled the first phase of its integration with Zynga, added more Twitter capabilities, and released an updated Yahoo Messenger beta with social features.
Yahoo is partnering with more than a dozen companies for the launch of Local Offers, including Groupon, LivingSocial, Gilt City, BloomSpot, BuyWithMe, DealOn, Zozi, CrowdSavings, Lifebooker, FreshGuide, Scoop St, Goldstar, HomeRun, Tippr, Coupons.com, and Valpak. When users search for something being offered by these retailers, Yahoo will display local deals, coupons, and other offers, including a "deal of the day."
Local Offers is currently in limited beta in the U.S. only.
"The local landscape is exploding with new sources of content and advertising, and consumers want these experiences personalized just for them. Yahoo is taking the complexity out of finding the great local deals that are most relevant to their interests and needs," Matt Idema, vice president of Yahoo Local, said in a statement. "With more than 180 million unique visitors1 to Yahoo!'s sites in the U.S., we are uniquely positioned to deliver our local-offer partners the massive scale and targeting needed to reach engaged audiences, grow their businesses, and drive foot traffic to local merchants."
Google made a similar announcement this week, adding local product search results to the desktop with partners like Williams-Sonoma, Office Depot, and Guitar Center.
Yahoo also announced local "quick apps," which will launch later this week. They include a new Yahoo Sketch-a-Search for connected devices, including PCs, iPhones, and the iPad. The feature lets you draw a circle or shape around the area in which you want to search on a map. There will also be the option to compare local restaurants and make reservations on OpenTable via the Yahoo search results page.
For gaming fans, Yahoo has started the first phase of its integration with Zynga. Users will now be able to launch, play, and share Zynga games like Mafia Wars and FishVille on Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo Games, My Yahoo, Yahoo Toolbar, and Yahoo Pulse. The roll-out is part of a five-year deal the two companies announced in May.
Yahoo Messenger also got an upgrade with a new beta release. It incorporates gaming, allows users to incorporate all their social networks, and connect IM sessions across mutiple devices.
Yahoo users can also now share Twitter update on the Yahoo homepage, on Yahoo Messenger, Yahoo Mail, and Yahoo Pulse.
Tuesday's announcements were part of the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco. Yahoo chief executive Carol Bartz made an appearance there yesterday afternoon, during which she defended her company, and acknowledged that Yahoo is just one of many destinations the average Web user will hit.
"People don't go to Google or Yahoo, they go to Google and Yahoo," Bartz said.
Also this week, Yahoo announced its Yahoo Contributor Network, which is inviting users to produce content for Yahoo Web properties and earn money for doing so. On Tuesday, Yahoo also launched Yahoo Clues, a site that lets people examine Yahoo Search trends.