Yammer just launched and the best way to describe it is like this: It’s yet another twitter clone but with a twist. It’s your own private twitter service for your company, organization or family. The key is that everyone’s email address must have the same domain. For example, John@Company.com can join the same yammer network as Sally@Company.com. It will not work with yahoo, gmail or Hotmail accounts so don’t even try it.
So, if you have your own domain name with an email address linked to it then you can start your own private twitter network. If you don’t have one, you could register one for as little as $6.99 a year and then create email addresses for everyone that wants to be a member of this exclusive network. The key is that these new email addresses will only be email forwarding accounts that redirect any emails sent to that address to the real address that the user wants it to go to. It’s a sneaky and inexpensive way to get everyone in the same private twitter network. You can add cousins, aunts, uncles, even family friends. Just create an email forwarding account and they can join yammer.
This is a good solution for other groups, not just companies or families. Organizations such as churches, sports fantasy leagues, recreational sports groups and so on can all take advantage of this now.
Just an idea I had.