Yammer (http://yammer.com/) has announced that it is opening up its microblogging service. It will allow people from different organisations and even families to use the service for collaboration. At the moment only people with email addresses on the same company domain can connect within Yammer using the free account, but you can already add “external members” using one of the priced plans. The new Communities will enable less formal organisations to use Yammer and I can see this being a useful way for diverse groups of people working on projects or events to connect.

The pricing plans for Yammer Communities will be the same as the “corporate” version: it will be free to use with priced plans for more advanced features. The service will launch on March 1st.