14 DAY TRIAL // Since it bridged Windows Live Messenger with Facebook, Microsoft has been witnessing a veritable social explosion for its instant messaging client. According to Piero Sierra, Group Program Manager, Windows Live, Messenger is now responsible for driving in excess of 2.8 billion minutes of Facebook.
The volume of Facebook chat powered by Windows Live Messenger has almost doubled since the software giant shared usage statistics in November 2010, when the figure was at just 1.5 billion minutes.
“The number of Messenger customers who have connected Messenger to Facebook has grown over 75% to nearly 18 million people,” Sierra added.
“The addition of these new connections has nearly doubled the number of chat sessions between Messenger and Facebook to about 440 million, powering more than 2.8 billion minutes of Facebook chat.
Microsoft is expecting Messenger to power more and more of Facebook’s chat in the future, especially since the IM services related to the top social network worldwide were extended to an additional 75 million users.
“We expect even more progress with the availability of Facebook chat from Messenger to the remaining countries we’re releasing this feature to today,” Sierra said.
However, Windows Live Messenger’s social universe is by no means limited to Facebook, and neither is its growth.
Sierra reveals that Messenger to LinkedIn connections have more than doubled, and those related to MySpace and YouTube jumped by almost 50%.
“Now, no matter where you live in the world, you have one place to chat with all your friends, whether they’re on Messenger, Facebook or both,” Sierra underlined.
“Once you connect your Windows Live account to Facebook, you can choose to turn on Facebook chat and Facebook updates in Messenger, letting you access these Facebook features from any place you connect to Messenger, like from your Hotmail inbox, or from the Messenger iPhone app.
“So even if your friends don’t have Messenger and Facebook connected, you can still chat with your Facebook friends from wherever you are…they’ll get your messages right in Facebook just as they would any other instant message.”
Windows Live Messenger 2011 Build 15.4.3508.1109 is available for download here.