November 15, 2008 by Matt Thomas
It seems everyone wants to jump on the social networking bandwagon these days. First, Yahoo announces plans to group their whole raft of services into one large social network, now it seems that Microsoft wants to turn Windows Live into something like Facebook.
After the next major update Windows Live users will be able to pick other users as ‘friends’ and let them see what they are up to on other web apps via Windows Live, Windows Live Messenger, Hotmail and other applications in the Live stable.
They claim to be “Integrating the notions of social networking, e-mail and instant messaging into one constant experience,” (Chris Jones, corporate vice president – Windows Live) which sounds an awful lot like what Yahoo are planning with ‘Yahoo Open Strategy.’ However, with the number two search engine floundering so publicly, Microsoft would seem to be in a better position to make it work. This decision from Microsoft could be yet another nail in the Yahoo coffin.
As part of the changes, Microsoft will link to numerous established websites like Twitter, Photobucket, Yelp, Flixster, Flickr, iLike, LinkedIn, Pandora, and Tripit, so that if, for example, a user adds photos to Photobucket all of his or her friends will be informed.
The changes are due to be with us by the end of the year.
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