Annelise Berendt
Microsoft pushes social networking features
Today sees the launch of the next generation of its Windows Live web-based consumer services by Microsoft's Online Services Group for EMEA. The launch includes enhancements to Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Messenger, and Windows Live Spaces, and also adds a number of new tools ranging from event planning, blog publishing and photo editing and sharing.Comment: Microsoft Online Services Group says its focus is on content, communications and community. With around 100m Windows Live Hotmail users and 33.2m Windows Live Spaces users across EMEA, it has often been said that Microsoft is missing a trick in the social networking arena, rarely attracting the kind of publicity that social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook get. This launch is very much about enhancing those social networking capabilities and raising the association of Windows Live Spaces in particular, as a community in the minds of its users and indeed more widely. The new tools focus on communication through self expression including the editing and sharing of photos and videos (Windows Live Photo Gallery), publishing of photos, videos and maps to a user's blog (Windows Live Writer), and event planning that includes the ability to share photos and stories before and after (Windows Live Events). Microsoft believes in combining functionality with fun, pointing to research carried out on a sample of its Messenger users that indicates consumers very much combine tasks, even work, with family and fun - resulting in the orientation to a kind of 'social desktop'.But there are no illusions about going it alone, and there are a number of features linking to third party providers including the ability to share material on Flickr and Facebook. Microsoft also acknowledges it doesn't share the same user roots that other social networking players do, instead saying it is focusing on building its community services around mainstream entertainment leveraging its MSN site. Indeed, expect to see greater use of blockbuster and other mainstream content within these services in the future, essentially combining advertising with customisable material for consumers to include within their personal content and communications. This may not appeal to all social networking users, but as the medium matures and moves mainstream, it will certainly appeal to some.
