Yoono, the slick browser plugin that serves as both a social network aggregator and media hub, has announced its impending support for Internet Explorer which will be available on November 7th. In conjunction with the the new version, Yoono is also announcing integration with both imeem and MySpace, as well as a powerful new widget that will help the plugin monetize.
Yoono has existed for a few years, but recently overhauled its browser plug last May. Since we last covered Yoono, it has become a featured Firefox 3 Recommended Download, and has grown to a total install base of around 1.8 million users (though only 500k of those are using the new version).
Beginning today the plugin will begin supporting imeem and MySpace, which join Flickr, Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook, and a number of others as supported services. imeem users will be able to play their music from the sidebar as they use other widgets and browse the web. Yoono acknowledges that there are other social aggregators that support more services (and are adding them at a faster pace), but says that it is striving to go through “all the proper channels” for each site to ensure future support and the tightest integration possible. Along with the additional networks the plugin has also seen a nice UI change, remedying my earlier concern that navigating the sidebar was too difficult because it was overly cluttered.
On November 24th the site will launch a Shopping widget, which Yoono says will be a key point in its monetization plans. As users browse the web, the Shopping widget will automatically search for relevant goods for purchase across shopping partners like Amazon, eBay, and iTunes (the site gets paid if users click the link or buy a product). I think that this approach to generating revenue beats putting display ads in the sidebar (as some competitors have tried), but I wonder how often users will voluntarily choose to have the shopping widget maximized as they browse the web – I’d probably minimize the widget and use that sidebar space to see more of my friends list.
Yoono competes with a number of other plugins like Minggl, as well as the Flock web browser.
