on Sun 14 Nov 2010 (21:20 GMT) (235445 views)
- More than 10 million people have connected Facebook to Windows Live
- More than 250 million chats between Messenger and Facebook
- Conversations have lasted more than 1.5 billion minutes
- Over 1.6 million people have connected YouTube to Windows Live
- Over 700,000 people have connected MySpace to Windows Live
- Over 10 million active Messenger customers on BlackBerry devices, over 5.2 million active Messenger customers on iPhones and over 1.2 million active Messenger customers on Nokia smart phones
Already there appears to be a re-birth for Messenger now it has become part of newer social trends, including our increasing demand for integration and portability.
Read the full story at the Windows Team Blogon Sun 19 Sep 2010 (21:53 GMT) (9974 views)
Neowin reports that Windows Live Web Messenger will soon integrate your Facebook friends alongside your Windows Live contacts:
When hovering over the Messenger link in the header a Facebook category appears on this site. The status of contacts is shown just like within Messenger, if a friend is available to chat to they have a green icon and an orange one for away; if you are also friends with them in Messenger then they can also be set to busy which is a red icon.
The official Windows Live Messenger iPhone app has been updated to support full Facebook integration, allowing you to chat to your friends on the popular social networking website as if they were your normal Messenger contacts.
These two updates show how seriously Microsoft is attempting to capitalise on the social networking market, which has been responsible for the decline of a younger demographic of instant messenger users.
on Sun 21 Mar 2010 (14:39 GMT) (5457 views)
LiveSide has uncovered evidence to suggest Windows Live Messenger 2010 is likely to implement Facebook Chat integration. What does this mean? You can chat to your friends on Facebook from within Messenger.
Microsoft currently possesses a 1.6% share in Facebook, estimated to be worth $15bn. It is a logical step that the company would want to expand its involvement in one of the biggest websites on the Internet today.
However, the extend to how integrated the two platforms are going to be is open to doubt. Unlike when Windows Live Messenger allowed you to talk to your Yahoo! Messenger contacts, the differences in protocols may create some heavy limitations. LiveSide comments:
What this possibly means though is that your Windows Live contacts are not fully integrated with your Facebook contacts. For example, a person may be online on Messenger as well as Facebook chat, but might appear as two different contacts on your Messenger contact list. Guess we'll have to live with that given that it'd be quite complicated to match your Windows Live contacts with Facebook's contact. We wonder if any other social networks or protocols will be supported though!
Source: LiveSide - Windows Live Messenger Wave 4: Interoperability with Facebook chatThe article draws parrells with the rise of social networking and the popularity of IM. I have argued that IM has gone into decline since the rise of social networking websites as they act as a substitute products. However, the statistics available appear to falsify this statement. IM is on the rise, and social networking seems to be a compliment. Kunin argues that the advancement of new technologies helps their former, citing the example of now IM helped e-mail. It is an interesting idea.
- 4% of people who use Facebook in a given month also use Hotmail or Messenger in that same month, and vice versa 66% of monthly Messenger users also use Facebook, according to Comscore
- More than 300 million people in 76 countries and 48 languages use Messenger every month
- Messenger users now represent:
- 65% of all Internet users in Brazil
- 48% of all Internet users in Canada
- 48% of all Internet users in Spain
- 47% of all Internet users in France
- 40% of all Internet users in Italy
- 39% of all Internet users in UK
- People use Messenger for 163 billion minutes every month, which is about 9.4% of all time consumers spend on the Internet worldwide
- More than 40% of our users sign in each day (more than 130 million daily users)
- Every day, those users share over 1.5 billion conversations and send more than 9 billion messages
- And at peak times, that drives more than 40 million "simultaneous online connections," (the number of people signed in at the same time)
- Messenger users share over 1 billion status updates every month
- Those users often click through from the Messenger client to the Web, helping drive more than 300 million users to Windows Live Profile, Home, and SkyDrive every month
Source: Inside Windows Live blog - Windows Live Messenger – a short historyon Wed 23 Sep 2009 (19:12 GMT) (10100 views)
As promised, everyone can now download and install the latest version of MessengerDiscovery - version 2.1. Everyone is invited to test this new version and report bugs/give feedback. MessengerDiscovery 2.1 has been in development for three of months and has undergone some rigerious testing to ensure that you do not encounter any major bugs even though it is a beta.
The feature seems really useful for those into the popular social networking website Facebook, which for me personally is the main way to contact my friends aside from my mobile phone. Hopefully Microsoft has a first party solution coming too in Windows Live Messenger 10.
View screenshots of MessengerDiscovery with Facebook Chat integration Download MessengerDiscovery 2.1 beta
"We are currently aiming to achieve full integrative support for widely popular instant messaging networks. Therefore, we have started discussions with the back-end and front-end Developer Teams of AOL LLC, Skype Ltd and Google Inc. Furthermore, we have intensified our cooperation with Facebook Inc. for a similar purpose," says Dharmesh Mehta, Windows Live Messenger Product Manager.
The integration of the chat networks powered by AOL, namely ICQ and AIM, has always been a big wish for Messenger users all around the world, and seems to be the continuing of what the Messenger team started when adding support for Yahoo, back in 2006. Skype integration offers interesting possibilities, such as video and voice calls right from Windows Live Call.
With Facebook, another social networking site enters the boat, and I think Microsoft is just happy about being able to continue their efforts to introduce social networking to Messenger; we have already seen the beginning of this in Wave 3 (Windows Live Profile, What's New Feeds etc). Finally, connecting with Google opens another wide audience of Messenger users.
The current master plan for adding support for ICQ, AIM, Skype, Facebook and GTalk is Q4-2009, so it will probably make its way into Windows Live Wave 4, where ideas are currently gathered for and sorted.
"I can't promise too much yet, but I think it's just what Windows Live is missing currently," states Dharmesh. "You'll soon be able to add Facebook [...] on Windows Live. This means that […], if you’'e a Facebook user, you can choose to allow info and photos that you post on Facebook to show up in 'What's new' for anyone in your network on Windows Live,” says Brian Hall, General Manager for Windows Live.
Adding support for all major instant messaging networks would make Windows Live Messenger the unquestionable no. 1, and it seems that Microsoft is finally realizing exactly this – if things are implemented the way they are announced.
Looking forward to hear your opinion on this!
Update: Were you gullible enough to fall for this piece of news? It seems too good to be true. Looks like LiveSide fell for it though, whoops.
on Mon 05 Jan 2009 (22:40 GMT) (1640 views)
December 2008 poll results
Last month we asked you what do you like most about the Windows Live Messenger 9 (Wave 3) beta? Below are our findings from what you told us:
on Mon 11 Aug 2008 (10:53 GMT) (6008 views)
Have you ever wanted to have all your online contacts in one place? With Invite2Messenger, now you can! This great new service allows you to easily invite your Facebook contacts over to chat on Windows Live Messenger.
You can now also access and update your Facebook account within Messenger. Check your messages or write on your friend's wall. Send a cheeky poke or browse through photo albums. You can even update your status directly from Messenger!
The service will expand to other social networking websites such as Bebo and Hi5 soon. (Emphasis and links added to quote)
Visit the Messenger United website More info on accessing Facebook within MessengerThis is yet another great idea from the Meebo ideas factory, but I'm not currently sure who will have access to it. I believe it is open to a selected few websites, with large communities, hoping to profit from ads within the application. If the service becomes publicly available, then expect to see one here.
Source: TechCrunch
For me, yes. I no longer use Windows Live Messenger daily, nor do I spend much time on it at all. I've noticed my friends have adopted the same approach, they prefer to check out new photos and comments on Facebook rather than logging in and waiting to chat to friends. Then again, I have been more busy in recent times, and I spend less time on my computer altogether.
According to Nielsen Online, the time British web users spent using MSN/Windows Live Messenger in April 2008 matched the number of minutes spent on Facebook: 2.4 billion. While that's a whopping increase for Facebook (coming from 500 million in April 2007), it's a considerable loss for Messenger that still accounted for 3.2 billion minutes in the same month last year.
Alex Burmaster, internet analyst at Nielsen Online, defines it as a relatively rapid "seismic shift" from Instant Messaging to communication through social networks. IM in general appears to be over the hill (total minutes were down from 3.9 billion to 2.9 billion) and clearly losing ground to social networking (minutes up from 2.4 billion to 3.7 billion).
To top things off, Facebook have now get their own instant messaging system usable from every page within the website. It is convenient and easy to use, but I never use it. So have you noticed yourself using Messenger less and social networking more?
Source: mess.be - "Facebook catches up with Windows Live Messenger in UK"
Messenger Stuff
