Microsoft turns Windows Live into a social network

Computerworld - Microsoft this week unveiled a slew of new online services that essentially transforms its Windows Live site into a social network.

The changes, which include updated photo sharing, e-mail and instant messaging capabilities, have received mostly positive reviews from Web 2.0 industry observers.

Microsoft also announced that it is integrating activities from some 50 companies and Web 2.0 services -- including Yahoo Inc.'s Flickr photo-sharing service, LinkedIn Corp., Photobucket Inc., Twitter and WordPress.org -- into the site through new Windows Live profiles and a news feed.

Michael Arrington, a blogger at TechCrunch said that the changes transform Microsoft Live from a "simple search engine with a few other services bolted on" to a social network that pulls in activity information and content from across the Web.

"A lot of what they've done is exactly what Yahoo has been talking about for over a year now -- leveraging social connections that already exist," he added. "Yahoo is using e-mail; Microsoft is using Messenger and doing a lot more with it. Users are automatically connected with any friends they have on Windows Live Messenger, which is by far the most popular instant messaging service worldwide."

Like Yahoo, he added, Microsoft is building it social networking strategy around its area of strength, which is instant messaging.

"Live.com users can now access a variety of online services like mail, calendar, photos, online storage, etc., as well as downloaded services that include a mail client, instant messaging, Movie Maker, Photo Gallery, the Toolbar and other services," Arrington said. "And now it's also one big social network. The result is an impressive personal productivity suite that makes me almost wish I wasn't solely a Mac user."

Frederic Lardinois, a blogger at Read Write Web, noted that while Microsoft is not calling Windows Live a direct competitor to other social networks, it presents a "formidable challenge" to those sites.

"Overall, it seems that Live Profiles and the new Windows Live home page will tie Microsoft's Live Services together into a very comprehensive social network," Lardinois said. "While it doesn't have widgets that let you poke your friends, it does have a broad set of applications like photos, spaces, contacts, groups, calendar and events that can all be integrated into your Live Profile."

Stan Schroeder, a blogger at Mashable, noted that with AOL LLC, Yahoo and now Microsoft overhauling their portals the concept of a big Web portal has been replaced by a "social revolution."

AOL, he noted, is only testing the social revolution by adding the ability to check out various social sites like Facebook directly from its front page. Yahoo will allow third party developers to create applications for the Yahoo home page, he added.

Microsoft's efforts will fall in between; it will integrate about 50 third-party sites and allow users to check out what is happening on all their different profiles directly from Live.com, Schroeder said.

"Regarding Web portals in general, the paradigm has shifted," he added. " It is no longer important to have people click on various links on a portal, thus increasing your page view count; all the major portals want to have their users' undivided attention. They're doing this by turning the portal into a social activity hub; a one-stop shop for users who are dabbling with social networking but aren't hard-core users and don't have time to open a dozen web sites each day."

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