The new Windows Live is all about simplifying the Web and bringing together the huge amount of activities you're a part of online into the one place. We know that these are different for everyone, so that's why Microsoft has partnered with more than 50 different online services and social networks to make sure that you can streamline and keep track of all your activities online with just one login.
While there are some you might not to have heard of, we've chosen a few of the of the most popular partners on our roster that you can now sync with the new Windows Live.
Facebook
It's the big one. Topping 200 million users, Facebook is the world's largest social network, with 13 million users updating their status every day, and more than 800 million photos uploaded to the site a month. Now you can stay on top of your Facebook account through the new Windows Live — see what your Windows Live contacts are doing on Facebook through the "What's New" feed, and sync your Facebook account with Windows Live using the "Web activities" function to allow your contacts to keep track of you.
What's to love about it?
You no longer have to wade through reams and reams of notifications, comments and photo updates from people you've added for the sake of it. Let Windows Live do the work for you by syncing your contacts' Facebook updates, so you can easily keep track of what's going on with the people closest to you.
Last FM
Last FM is one of the most popular music destinations online, with more than 21 million registered users worldwide. Last FM's streaming audio capability allows you to hear songs from almost any artist in recorded history, while your Last FM profile keeps a full record of all the songs you've played which you can then "scrobble" to your friends. Now Windows Live can send you updates whenever one of your friends adds a new band to their favourites list, scrobbles a playlist or shows some love for a track.
What's to love about it?
Last FM's streaming radio engine will broaden your music tastes and knowledge far beyond where you thought it would go. Simply type in the name of your favourite band to the radio tab to hear a full track, and then go along for the ride as Last FM plays a continuous stream of tracks by similar artists.
Flickr
Possibly the most innovative photo sharing network on the Web, Flickr is the service of choice for weekend snappers, industry professionals and artists alike. Flickr encourages its users to upload as much content as possible, and also makes available hundreds of thousands of other images for sharing. Windows Live Photo Gallery now lets you publish straight to your Flickr account with just a click, and to make sure we're not wasting your time, all of the tagging you've done using Photo Gallery transfers straight across to Flickr.
What's to love about it?
Flickr believes the days of the old photo album are over, especially now that we keep countless digital folders crammed full of shots from all over the place. So why take on the burden of organising them all yourself? With Flickr you can authorise your friends to tag and archive your photos themselves.
Twitter
Twitter is one of the fastest growing social tools online, and like many of the best ideas, it's incredibly simple. Although it calls itself a "micro-blogging" service, Twitter is effectively the status update service, allowing users to type messages of a maximum of 140 characters to "tweet" out to all of their friends about what they're doing. Now you can receive tweets from any one of your friends who's also a Windows Live contact directly to your profile.
What's to love about it?
Using Twitter you can follow everyone and anyone from your closest friends to celebrities such as John Cleese, Bjork, Stephen Fry, Tom Waits, Rick Ross, David Lynch, and Shaquille O'Neal, who are all compulsive tweeters.
Digg
Digg is the world's leading social media service, and allows users to submit articles, images, and videos from all over the Web. Each submission appears in Digg's upcoming stories section, where users can view and vote to "digg" the story if they like it. Articles that receive enough diggs will eventually find its way to the home page, and gains exposure to an audience of millions. Windows Live lets you see what your friends digg, linking you directly to the article so you can go and decide for yourself.
What's to love about it?
The new Digg recommendation engine is all about finding even more of the articles, images and videos you like on the Web. Once you've been digging for a while the recommendation engine will start sending you articles it thinks you'll like based on your digging history, and matches you with other diggers who share similar tastes.
Stay tuned
MySpace will be available as a Windows Live partner network very soon.
Check out this video from the Windows Live team on how to link up to our social networking partners.
Get the word on the "What's new" feed.
Had a chance to add one of our partner networks yet using the Web Activities function? Let us know who you'll be syncing up with below.
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