Yo App Goes From Seriously Dumb to Surprisingly Useful Yo just reinvented itself as a killer content clearinghouse.

By Kim Lachance Shandrow Feb 25, 2015

Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Yo's all grown up, yo. The absurd smash-hit app that once only allowed users to send friends the word "yo" just went from useless to useful, and it's not a joke.

Now the free social-networking app -- originally launched by San Francisco engineer Or Arbel as a joke last April Fool's Day -- finally does a lot more than send monosyllabic salutations. It's been redesigned to be a content notification clearinghouse, tipping users off to new videos, images and articles from an impressive mix of 150 partner websites.

To hook up to Yo's steady fresh content drip, users log into the app as they normally would, then subscribe to notifications or "Yos" from the content channels they like from the app's new Yo Store lineup.

Yo content channels are lumped into 10 basic categories including "productivity," "business," "news" and the all-important "fun." Yo-ers can plug into LOL-worthy bits from the lighter side of the Internet -- Lil Bub, the web's most famous feline, Funny Or Die and Cheezburger -- to news bursts from mainstream media outlets like BuzzFeed, USA Today and Daily Mail.

Feening for Beyonce's latest selfie-riffic Instagram posts? There's a Yo for that, too. Need to know Bitcoin's current price? Coinbase has yo covered. So how about it, would you give Yo a second chance now that it's not total brain drivel?

Introducing the new Yo Store! The easiest way to discover the 150+ services on Yo! https://t.co/VEjyuIue5W pic.twitter.com/o64qScmCy3
— Yo (@YoApp) February 24, 2015

Kim Lachance Shandrow

Former West Coast Editor

Kim Lachance Shandrow is the former West Coast editor at Entrepreneur.com. Previously, she was a commerce columnist at Los Angeles CityBeat, a news producer at MSNBC and KNBC in Los Angeles and a frequent contributor to the Los Angeles Times. She has also written for Government Technology magazine, LA Yoga magazine, the Lowell Sun newspaper, HealthCentral.com, PsychCentral.com and the former U.S. Surgeon General, Dr. C. Everett Coop. Follow her on Twitter at @Lashandrow. You can also follow her on Facebook here.

Want to be an Entrepreneur Leadership Network contributor? Apply now to join.

Most Popular

See all

Growing a Business

He Immigrated to the U.S. and Got a Job at McDonald's — Then His Aversion to Being 'Too Comfortable' Led to a Fast-Growing Company That's Hard to Miss

Voyo Popovic launched his moving and storage company in 2018 — and he's been innovating in the industry ever since.

By Amanda Breen

Branding

ChatGPT is Becoming More Human-Like. Here's How The Tool is Getting Smarter at Replicating Your Voice, Brand and Personality.

AI can be instrumental in building your brand and boosting awareness, but the right approach is critical. A custom GPT delivers tailored collateral based on your ethos, personality and unique positioning factors.

By Tatiana Dumitru

Business Ideas

63 Small Business Ideas to Start in 2024

We put together a list of the best, most profitable small business ideas for entrepreneurs to pursue in 2024.

By Eve Gumpel

Business News

Is the AI Industry Consolidating? Hugging Face CEO Says More AI Entrepreneurs Are Looking to Be Acquired

Clément Delangue, the CEO of Hugging Face, a $4.5 billion startup, says he gets at least 10 acquisition requests a week and it's "increased quite a lot."

By Sherin Shibu