Yammer to Stop the Yammering

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The TechCrunch 50 Conference is in full swing right now in San Francisco (September 8 - 10).

One of the most interesting products to launch, so far, is a Twitter-like service called Yammer.

Like Twitter, Yammer is a social networking tool that allows users to send out small snippets of information (140 words or less) to a select group via mobile device or online.

Here's the big difference, however. Yammer is for use strictly within a company network. The only users that can be registered to use the account are people with a company e-mail address.

Yammer has a simple page layout with tabs to organize threads of messages. You might ask, why not just e-mail? Answer: it's designed to avoid e-mail. Yammer promises to be a great way to cut down on long tedious over shares by e-mail. It's fast, efficient and instantaneously gets the latest messages out to everyone within the company in one fell swoop.

Think how handy this might be on a project or keeping close tabs with a co-worker on the road. The Yammer site offers a streaming video demo. It's worth a look-see.

Basic service is free. For administrative control and using your network security, the cost is a dollar per user each month.

Renee Oricchio is a technology writer and former supervising news producer for CNN Financial News. She has been covering the computer industry since 1987. @oricchio