Yahoo adds social networking features to its email service

Yahoo has rolled out a new version of its email service Yahoo Mail, in a bid to to attract users who are increasingly using Facebook, Twitter, Google and other websites.

With the new version, Yahoo has taken the beta tag off its Yahoo Mail service, which is available in 43 markets and 26 languages around the world.

The refurbished email service will be available to its 284 million users worldwide in the coming weeks, Yahoo said.

The new version features some new social-networking features, including the ability to respond to Facebook messages; view slideshows and inline videos as well as post Facebook, Twitter updates from the inbox itself.

Yahoo has also prioritised contacts and messages for Yahoo Mail so that the most frequent contacts appear at the top in unread messages as well as while composing mails.

Users can also chat with Facebook friends alongside Windows Live and Yahoo! Messenger contacts.