Yahoo Pinoy Connect (yes, the name is pretty easy to guess based on the previous paragraph) has actually been around for a while, but its new incarnation should offer a number of improvements.  Hence the use of “mabuhay” (a friendly form of greeting) – fresh introductions are necessary.

“The new Pinoy Connect website, besides engendering Internet education and awareness, now provides a platform for the online Filipino community,” reports Lawrence Casiraya for Inquirer.net.  It also features “a collection of relevant social and user-generated content and localized social Internet tools, including localized versions of Yahoo! Answers (social search), Yahoo! Groups (online communities), and Flickr (photo sharing).”

In case you’re questioning this move – I know the Philippines aren’t a big topic of discussion in Lexington, Kentucky, at least – Casiraya notes, “Yahoo runs around 20 similar country-specific sites including neighboring countries Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam.”

On the less-formal Inquirer.net blog, he adds, “What’s next, Yahoo! Kazakhstan?”  Yet the Pinoy Connect development also comes just weeks after Yahoo’s Flickr added support for seven new languages.  And who knows – if Yahoo Pinoy Connect is successful, perhaps the Philippines will come up more frequently in the U.S.

Hat tip to Loren Baker.