Microsoft has launched a Facebook integration tool that allows Facebook people to view the social networking site as they use their emails.
Through the plug-in, Outlook Social Connector, users will be able to view real time status updates, wall posts and photos through Outlook. People can also add friends using the Outlook People Pane.
The new plug-in has been extended to work with Outlook 2003 and 2007 alongside LinkedIn and MySpace, which Microsoft have already integrated into Outlook.
The information provided through Outlook from social networks is shown based on the person’s privacy settings for that particular social network while email addresses are ‘hashed’ to protect privacy.
Outlook Social Connector can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Centre but Outlook 2010 users can get it through Microsoft Update.
It is available in 19 languages and Microsoft plans to add more on an on-going basis.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
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