I learned at Search Engine Guide that Yahoo. released a new version of YM. Are you a YM fan? You’ll probably appreciate the new features:

Updated Contact List Look – Contact avatars are larger than it was before, users can hover on individual contacts to send IM, SMS or Call.

Brand New Skins and Emoticons – More skins were added which can be easily changed by clicking on the red dot at the upper right hand corner of the YM Window. Likewise, more emoticons are added into YM’s growing family of emoticons.

New Flickr integration – Share Flickr photos via the YM window or even save photos shared by YM contacts into a user’s Flickr account. This is a feature that is a long time coming since Flickr has been Yahoo’s most popular web tool since it was acquired by Yahoo.

In-Line Media Player – This new feature makes it easy to view maps, photos and videos right in the Yahoo Messenger Window, without the need for another Plug-in.

New Voice Call Features – Forward incoming Phone in or PC calls into a mobile, home or office phone, even if user is logged out of YM. Likewise, when someone leaves a voicemail, an email alert is sent to users.

Too many features if you ask me. Is YM going the route of ICQ- overloading the control panel, thereby overwhelming the user?

The reason I shifted to Google from Yahoo is that the interface is sleek and does one thing well: give excellent search results. Yahoo’s portal and Messenger flood the screen with doodads I never need or want. I feel swamped looking at the stream of text and buttons.

I doubt I’d ever jump from Meebo and Gtalk back to YM.

Simple is best for me.