Microsoft today announced new changes that are coming to its enterprise social networking service, Yammer. Some of these updates are already rolling out while the rest are slated for release in the future.
First off, Microsoft is adding the ability to create posts, questions, and polls on Yammer directly from SharePoint pages in the future. This new feature essentially allows you to send SharePoint pages directly to Yammer communities. You can also customize the style of your Yammer content and add rich text or images to it.
Another change is the ability to add Yammer"s new styling and capabilities to a web page using its new embed function. It was announced late last year as an update to the JavaScript widgets. The change is meant to bring Yammer’s new platform experience to any HTML-based application. There"s no additional action needed if the feed is eligible for upgrade or if you"re using the classic embed interface.
The fresh styling and features of the new Yammer have also started rolling out to the Yammer tab within Microsoft Teams. In addition, Microsoft has changed Yammer"s virtual event viewing experience. This update introduces a side-by-side viewer to let you join a conversation while watching the video and the ability to collapse pinned conversations to focus on new ones. You can also view conversation threads in a new feed.
Hashtags and topics have also received a visual redesign. When you click on a hashtag, a community search results page about that particular tag opens up. Yammer is now working on allowing you to post a hashtag without automatically adding a topic. This new capability is set for rollout this month.
Finally, the service has introduced new administrative features and navigation to its mobile interface. Yammer also plans to add more insights for conversations and events over the next few months.