Microsoft details Twitter and LinkedIn Windows Phone 7.5 integration [video]

By Tom Warren, on 20th Jul 11 3:41 pm with 16 Comments

Microsoft has produced a video to demonstrate its Twitter and LinkedIn Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) integration.

The video features Stuart Bottom, a Microsoft Windows Phone 7 developer. Bottom joined Microsoft in September 2010 and has been working on the Twitter and LinkedIn integration alongside Microsoft’s new social notification experience in Windows Phone 7.5. Bottom details the experience in the new video (see below) and highlights ways for users of several social networks to easily filter out the noise in their People Hub.

Microsoft is understood to be in the final stages of Mango development. Some rumors suggest that the company has already released the final build of Windows Phone 7.5 to manufacturing (RTM) but WinRumors is unable to confirm this at this time. Several Microsoft employees have tweeted a variety of messages recently that appear to be test messages for Twitter Windows Phone integration. Microsoft had previously promised that Windows Phone Mango Twitter integration would be built in during the June timeframe so it appears the company is on schedule. External builds of Windows Phone Mango, available to developers, do not currently support Twitter integration.

It’s likely that Microsoft is testing the feature on an updated build of Windows Phone Mango or by using developer devices. Windows Phone developer devices allow owners to switch to Windows Live Internal domains to use dogfood features.

Microsoft is expected to release Windows Phone 7.5 during September or October. The software giant hinted at a release date by promising Imagine Cup 2011 contestants Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) devices “by September.”

  • http://twitter.com/mcakins McAkins Online

    Wow, Windows Phone platform is looking matured everyday! Can’t wait for the Mango update.

    • http://www.winrumors.com Tom W

      I didn’t notice the filter on the people hub, great addition :)

    • http://twitter.com/ThomasMaurer Thomas Maurer

      But I think is all or just one social network… for instance I would like to choose all execpt Twitter…

      And hopefully they make something clever to merge Twitter contacts with other contacts :)

      But I think with the Mango Update Microsoft makes Windows Phone to one of the best plattforms on mobile phones… I like how they intergreated everything, its not just a phone with apps ;-)

    • CandidCalum

      It’s certainly useful and appreciated. Unfortunately, there is no way to filter it by Facebook Friend Lists or Twitter Lists. I realise this would be messy if not implemented well, but there are ways they could implement such filters well. Similarly to this issue, one has to create Windows Phone Groups separately to their Facebook Friend Lists and Twitter Lists. I really dislike that limitation, and believe filtering our What’s New feed by Facebook Friend Lists and Twitter Lists could be a powerful feature, especially for those of us that find useful news (from either websites, followees, acquaintances, or friends) through utilising these lists. If Microsoft decide to implement Google+ integration down the line, such filtering capabilities would be even more useful because many Google+ features are built around Circles.

  • http://twitter.com/llisasukeeill mohammed omar

    when will they release mango update ????????????

    • http://adamhaider.com Adam Haider

      I believe sometime between October and September this year, same time-frame when Nokia should be launching their Windows Phone Mango devices.

  • Anonymous

    I like the way they are putting together these videos with real faces of MS. It’s a great way to get people more comfortable with MS and its products.

  • JediGeek

    this is great!
    and yet there is still no possibility to block incoming calls from anyone in your contact list…
    http://bit.ly/qKnhpt

    • SomeoneinWA

      Of course there is. Don’t answer.

  • http://twitter.com/theloz Loz Lowe

    Really like the notifications view. Will we get toast alerts for these as well though? I hope so…

    • CandidCalum

      Unfortunately, both toasts and an icon on the lockscreen for unread notifications are not evident in the developer beta of Mango :( I find this to be quite a limitation because we are essentially not notified as soon as a notification arrives. Currently, we can set the official Facebook app to push toast notifications, but clicking on the toast takes us to the Facebook app, and not the notifications form in the Me hub, so this implementation is not good enough. Even with the Facebook app push notifications, there is no icon on the lockscreen to inform us of unread notifications (like there are with unread SMS, Facebook Chat, Windows Live Messenger, and email messages), so it’s likely we will still miss notifications if we miss a toast. It would be nice if these things were even options because while they may think most people don’t care about receiving notifications straight away, a lot of us do (and they could be wrong if they do think that; it could be that the majority do). I hope these issues are addressed before Mango is released. I’d also like them to allow us to send Facebook Messages to our contacts from their contact cards; all we can do at the moment is write on their Walls and chat to them on Facebook Chat, but we can’t send them offline private messages :/ (not all of us have numbers for all of our contacts and we might want to send those people a private message).

    • http://twitter.com/theloz Loz Lowe

      That is a real shame about the notifications. It certainly detracts from the ‘glance & go’ philosophy. Can’t think it would be that hard to implement, really…

      As far as the messages go, the new messaging update on Facebook makes chat messages and offline private messages one and the same. I’m guessing the Windows Phone implementation doesn’t interface with this?

    • CandidCalum

      I completely agree; it does detract from the ‘glance and go’ philosophy. I really hope they change it, or there is a legitimate reason as to why they haven’t. I’m a software developer, and like you, I don’t think it would be hard to implement.

      Currently, for me, the Windows Phone Messaging hub doesn’t allow me to send offline Facebook Messages to my contacts (when I click on ‘text + chat’ on their contact card), so that is what leads me to believe it doesn’t interface with the new, unified Messages and Chat system. However, Facebook haven’t yet given me the new Messages features (they’ve only given me the new Chat features), so that could be the reason; I’m hoping it is, but I doubt it seeing as Windows Phone simply informs me it cannot send the message because the contact is offline :/

  • CandidCalum

    This is great news, but as I have pointed out elsewhere, it is important Microsoft continue to stay ahead of the competition. I believe they should now be beginning to consider deep Google+ integration similar to this (but obviously not go ahead with it until Google+ proves to be popular, if it even does). Unfortunately, I cannot help but believe Google+ is the best social network. I despise Twitter, and while I like a lot of Facebook features, I find the ‘follower’ model more superior to the ‘friend’ model; I’m enjoying a great experience on Google+ following Google, Microsoft, and Facebook software engineers (as well as a host of interesting journalists, photographers, and more). While Microsoft compete with Google in a few markets, there will be people who much prefer to use a Windows Phone, but also prefer to use Google+ as opposed to Facebook or Twitter (I’m one of those), and if Microsoft decide not to opt for Google+ integration they will risk alienating users. Social networking integration is really important to me, and if Google+ is my preferred network, I will greatly desire as deep integration with my phone as possible, even though I much prefer to use Windows Phone over Android.

    It is important to note, I’m not expecting such integration any time soon, but I am pointing out that Microsoft should implement such integration for those of us who happen to prefer Google+ over Facebook and Twitter, if Google+ becomes popular.

  • Anonymous

    What he didn’t mention are the groups.  You can also create a group “friends” “family” whatever, and it becomes a minature version of the people hub.  You can pin this group to start page and it is a live tile with recent items.  It’s very cool.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1724462076 Tim Mariner

    The updates to social network integration in Mango are looking awesome!  Now, if MS could add YouTube integration in Tango or Apollo, I would bow down and worship at the altar of Steve Ballmer!!