Introduced to this as part of a business arrangement – Yammer is a private “twitterlike” service where you can sign up other members of your email domain and have private chats regarding matters of interest or importance. The Adobe AIR based windows client is probably the most common interface – after the web based vanilla client that you can use from anywhere. Other clients exist for Blackberry and Iphone and you can even have an Outlook 2007 addin if you wish. You can also be members of multiple networks and flip between those. Its a very useful tool for keeping a small group of people up to date and interacting – and the basic version is free here
The company describes yammer as “Corporate Microblogging” and say
Yammer is a tool for making companies and organizations more productive through the exchange of short frequent answers to one simple question: ‘What are you working on?’
As employees answer that question, a feed is created in one central location enabling co-workers to discuss ideas, post news, ask questions, and share links and other information. Yammer also serves as a company directory in which every employee has a profile and as a knowledge base where past conversations can be easily accessed and referenced.
Anyone in a company can start their Yammer network and begin inviting colleagues. The privacy of each network is ensured by limiting access to those with a valid company email address. Information is never shared with third parties.
The basic Yammer service is free. Companies can pay to claim and administer their networks.