14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has just announced that its email platform Outlook.com will receive a number of improvements inspired from Facebook and Twitter in order to help better manage emails and conversations.
In a blog post today, the company has revealed that both likes and mentions, used in Facebook and Twitter, respectively, will debut in Outlook.com in order to share and collaborate messages between contacts much faster than before.
The like feature will be represented by a thumbs-up icon that will be displayed in the reading pane.
“This turns the icon from gray to blue, notes within the email that you liked the message and adds a thumbs-up icon in the email list view. Anyone on the thread can Like a message, and their Likes are identified and captured within the message as well. If someone likes your email, you’ll receive a notification letting you know,” Microsoft explains.
Mentions working just like on Twitter
As far as mentions are concerned, on the other hand, they are specifically designed to help get in touch with individuals faster by simply mentioning their name using the classic @ symbol in an email.
Whenever you press the @ symbol in the body of an email, Outlook.com loads the frequent contacts list in order to help you easily integrate them into your email. This works pretty much like the auto-complete feature on Twitter when you write a new message, and the contact list shows up to easily select your recipient.
As Microsoft explains, not everyone will get these features right away.
“The Like feature in Outlook on the web will begin to roll out today to Office 365 First Release customers whose Office 365 plan includes Exchange Online. We expect the feature to roll out broadly to eligible Office 365 commercial customers starting in late October. The Mention feature will begin rolling out to First Release customers in mid-October and broadly to all eligible Office 365 commercial customers in mid-November.”
Everyone else using Outlook.com should get likes and mentions starting December.