Microsoft’s complete silence on the instant messaging front of Windows Live should in no way be mistaken for inactivity. Fact is that the Redmond company is hard at work building the next iteration of its IM client, as you will be able to see via the screenshots integrated at the bottom of this article. Third-party reports indicate that the Redmond company has already reached the M3 (Milestone 3) stage of the development process, although the software giant is not confirming or denying any details on Windows Live Messenger 15, also known as Windows Live Messenger Wave 4, or Windows Live Messenger 2010.

The latest screenshots releases, courtesy of cnBeta (via LiveSide), indicate that Windows Live Messenger has been evolving with the addition of new features. Just as it is the case for Window Phone 7, Messenger 2010 will be intimately connected with social networks including Twitter and Facebook. Microsoft is obviously positioning the next version of Messenger as a central hub for social networking websites, in addition to its primary instant messaging functionality.

Windows Live Messenger 2010 will also support connecting with Wordpress, according to the leaked screenshots, and Video Messaging integration. Essentially, users would be able to record video messages, save them in Windows Live Video Messages, and share them across the instant messaging client. The IM client will, in this regard, be able to grab any video messages that have been left for the user right from Windows Live.

Integration with Windows Live will also involve SkyDrive, the storage service, but also Windows Live Photos and most probably Bing Maps. The screenshots suggests that Windows Live Messenger 2010 will allow end users to view geo-tagged images on a map, most probably via Bing Maps. The next version of Windows Live Messenger will allow end users to better manage their contacts, through a new Friends view, and to also use new emoticons (via Wikikou).