LinkedIn, Facebook join the Outlook 2010 Social Connector (The what?)

Starting today you can download the new Outlook 2010 Social Connector to see what your contacts are up to on LinkedIn from right within the Outlook 2010 beta. When Office 2010 ships, you'll also be able to see your contacts' Facebook and MySpace actions in the same place.  

But let's take a step back: what is the Outlook 2010 Social Connector? Take a look at the photo below:

At the bottom of each email you can see your recent meetings, emails, and SharePoint doings with whoever sent it, plus a photo. You can easily toggle the information off and on.  

How does this save me time?  Instead of searching or digging through my inbox, I can see the most recent info and email from Michael, for example, right in front of me. And when I step up from the beta to Office 2010, I won't have to go to Facebook to see what he's been up to lately. Instead, his recent Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn actions will show up right there in Outlook.  (See photo below for what that will look like). 

Dev Balasubramanian, a Product Manager on the Outlook team, summed it up nicely: “You can view friends’ activities, photos, and status updates within Outlook — as well as grow your network by adding friends from the same view.”

So, if you want to play with the Social Connector now,

1. Download the Office 2010 Beta at www.Office.com/beta.
2. Update to the latest version of the Outlook Social Connector using the instructions on the Microsoft Download Center.
3. Get the LinkedIn download for the Outlook Social Connector at www.LinkedIn.com/outlook. 

Important: LinkedIn for Outlook requires the latest version of the Outlook Social Connector, which supports the 32-bit English version of the official Microsoft Office 2010 Beta. Learn more about the whys and wherefores on the Outlook team blog. Also, the usual beta rules apply: it's provided as-is, subject to change without notice, and without formal product support from Microsoft.

--Doug Thomas

To get the most out of Office, visit Office.com/help