14 DAY TRIAL // In a move designed to bring closer together the approximately 500 million Windows Live users and 150 million Facebook members, the two companies announced a new stage in their alliance at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES 2009) in Las Vegas. The marriage between Windows Live and Facebook is yet to be finalized, but the companies pointed out that, in the coming months, they would have all the aspects of the new bridge between Microsoft's cloud applications and services and the social network wrapped up. Neither of the parties indicated a specific deadline when users would be able to take advantage of the integration of Facebook into Windows Live.
“We're announcing a partnership with Facebook that will deliver the best social experience to our over half a billion Windows Live users. You can now connect Facebook with Windows Live. The updates you make on Facebook, and the photos you share will automatically also be published to your Windows Live network if you want things configured that way,” Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer indicated.
When the Windows Live and Facebook marriage is due to be complete, users of the social network will be able to benefit from advanced sharing capabilities, which will migrate their Facebook content directly into Windows Live. According to Brandon LeBlanc, Windows communications manager on the Windows Client Communications Team, the facebook content that users will be able to share is bound to include activities and updates.
“We’re excited to announce that you’ll soon be able to add Facebook as one of 50+ web activities on Windows Live. This means that in the coming months, if you’re 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,” Brian Hall, general manager for Windows Live, stated.
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg revealed recently that the social network continued to grow in popularity, having surpassed the 150 million members mark at the start of 2009. “150 million people around the world are now actively using Facebook, and almost half of them are using Facebook every day. This includes people in every continent—even Antarctica. If Facebook were a country, it would be the eighth most populated in the world, just ahead of Japan, Russia, and Nigeria,” Zuckerberg stated.