14 DAY TRIAL // The final version of Messenger Connect has graduated from Beta and is now available for embedding into third-party websites and applications. Messenger Connect comes to complement Windows Live Messenger 2011 by taking Microsoft’s instant messaging client to a new level.
Essentially, Messenger Connect has the potential of making the Redmond company’s IM service ubiquitous, provided that web and app developers embrace it.
The collection of APIs (application programming interfaces) offered as Messenger Connect is designed to streamline the process associated with embedding Windows Live Messenger into sites and apps, with the software giant indicating that the existing 500 million users that currently leverage Windows Live services or rich clients can share their Internet activities with friends on Messenger or Hotmail.
Projects that will take advantage of Messenger Connect will allow users to communicate, share, and connect through Messenger even if the IM client is not installed on their device.
And just as it got out of Beta, Messenger Connect managed to grab a wide territory on the world wide web as it has been adopted by sharing syndicators such as ShareThis, AddThis, Gigya, and AddToThis.
Users are bound to start seeing the Messenger Connect badge on more than 1 million websites including on the Bing search/decision engine.
Jeff Kunins, Group Program Manager, Windows Live enumerated some of the benefits if the latest iteration of Messenger Connect:
“-Easier to check out –We made it faster and simpler for partners to try out Messenger Connect and determine if it would be useful for their sites. For example: you can try out the real time chat control without needing to write any code.
- Easier to adopt and integrate– We reduced the effort needed for sites to implement Messenger Connect usefully and powerfully by providing new tools and sample code for ActivityStrea.ms template selectors and more.
- More complete, and consistent with our data portability and privacy principles – Many partner sites want to allow their users to send invitations and other email messages to their Messenger friends to help them discover and start using their sites.
Historically, they could do this using the Contacts API. However, as previously announced, we no longer allow open access to that API, due to conflicts with our data portability and privacy principles.
In its place, we’re now offering a brokered invitation API that gives users most of these same capabilities without revealing the email addresses of their contacts to the partner site.”
Angus Logan, Senior technical product manager, Windows Live provides excellent insight into Messenger Connect here.
What’s most important is that website and app developers will be able to leverage Messenger Connect in three key scenarios beyond simply offering a new Messenger-based communication tool for their projects.
Identity – Messenger Connect simplifies the user sign in and sign up to website. Of course, in this context, any third-party website would allow users to take advantage of their existent Windows Live ID, rather than create a new account.
Social distribution – Let’s face it, everything on the web is social, or at least trying to be. Devs can make sure that their websites embrace social networking with a mature solution as Windows Live Messenger which allows users to share their activities with friends, not only in Messenger, but also in Hotmail, and other Windows Live properties, but even on Windows Phone 7 and the Windows Live Messenger iPhone app.
Real time shared experiences – Engagement is extremely important to web properties, especially if the purpose is to have them come back over and over again. Messenger Connect provides chat within any website.