Yahoo! Updates API

Yahoo! Updates allows you to syndicate user-generated actions on your website (ratings, reviews, comments, favorites, uploads, etc.) to Yahoo!'s massive global distribution network. You can enjoy referral traffic back to your website from across the Yahoo! Network (more than 500M+ monthly unique visitors). You can also use the Yahoo! Updates API to read the stream of activities generated by users.

Yahoo! Updates provides the following benefits to both partner websites and their users:

• For partner websites, Yahoo! Updates provides a new way to gain access to Yahoo!'s massive global distribution network and get referral traffic back to their websites by broadcasting actions in Yahoo!’s Updates stream.
• For users, Yahoo! Updates represents a convenient way to share activities with their Yahoo! connections and with the world. Users must opt-in and agree to broadcast their activities for a specific partner through the Yahoo! Updates stream by first explicitly authorizing that partner.

How It Works

Once a partner website integrates with Yahoo! Updates, users can start broadcasting their activities via Yahoo!.

• Users perform a social action (Rating, Review, Comment, Upload, Favorite) on the partner site.
• Users authorize the partner site to share their activities with Yahoo! through OAuth.
• Updates are generated and published on the Yahoo! Network.
• Updates are organized at Yahoo! into collections by user, relationship, context, and various combinations thereof.
• The Updates stream is displayed on multiple properties across the Yahoo! Network (depending on the permission level set by the user), as well as on sites off the Yahoo! Network.
• The user's Yahoo! connections, as well as other Yahoo! users (depending on the permission level set by the user), see this user's Update and can follow the link back to the partner site.

Product Principles

1. Massive Distribution: With Yahoo! Updates, partners leverage the power of one of the largest distribution platforms on the planet: the Yahoo! Network. This viral distribution can generate large referral traffic back to the partner site.
2. Open Stack: Users authorize the partner site to share their activity with Yahoo! through OAuth, a community-developed open authorization protocol. Yahoo! Updates will continue to build capability on top of transparent community standards, including OpenID and OAuth.
3. Direct Access to Users: Partners can retain control over the relationship with the end-user, as long as the user opts-in to authorize the partner site. Yahoo! Updates does not seek to replace the partner site's native user registration process, but rather to provide a distribution layer for the activities of current users.
4. Rich Social Data: Partners can also leverage Yahoo!'s existing database of social data for millions of potential users with the Y!OS suite of Social APIs (Social Directory, User Status, Contacts and Updates) through OAuth. This social data includes user card and profile information, user photo, status, social graph connections, and address book contacts.
5. Developer Tools and Customization: Yahoo! strives to provide developer tools that will make integrating with Yahoo! Updates as easy as possible, while also giving partners the maximum amount of flexibility and customization to build the solution that is right for their users.

Showcase Integrations

Here are some examples that illustrate the power of the Yahoo! Updates platform:

iGoogle Gadget

The Yahoo! Updates iGoogle Gadget allows users to include a Yahoo! Updates module on their iGoogle dashboard. It allows users to get a Yahoo! Updates stream of activities from their friend Connections on Yahoo!, directly on iGoogle! The Gadget is available in Google’s Gadget Gallery. The Gadget is available for installation here.

How Do I Get Started?

1. Try our interactive demo (with code samples) to learn more
2. Get an API Key
3. Read the online documentation
4. Learn about OAuth
5. Get our PHP SDK or Flash SDK (optional)
6. Check out the pre-designed buttons on the Yahoo! Updates Assets page.

Using the API or Web Service

Overview

The Yahoo! Updates API is an HTTP REST-based API that accepts and returns data in XML or JSON format. The Yahoo! Updates API utilizes OAuth as a mechanism for users to authorize your application to access their updates and updates from their connections.

You can publish updates and get referral traffic by having them displayed in major locations on and off Yahoo!. You can also put collections of updates into your application to provide a compelling social experience. Each update must contain a referral URL that will direct viewers of the update to its original location.

The complete suite of APIs allows you to publish, edit, delete, and read updates from hundreds of sources across Yahoo! and the Web.

Note: If you want to read updates for a user's connections, please remember to apply for the Social Directory scope in addition to the Updates scope.

Flash Support

Build Yahoo! Social Applications with Flash. Learn more.

Support and Community

Questions and suggestions on the Yahoo! Updates API are discussed on the Yahoo! Updates Developer Community Forum. If you have questions or need technical support, please use this forum.

Rate Limits

The Yahoo! Updates API service limits each IP to 5,000 queries per day.

Terms of Use

Use of the Yahoo! Updates API is governed by the Yahoo! APIs Terms of Use.