Microsoft Turns On Social Networking in Spaces

Windows Live Spaces received a refresh as the planned upgrades to the service began appearing on the site on Friday. The changes are meant to refocus the site more as a social networking platform than blogging service.

As first reported by BetaNews on Monday, the update is part of what looks to be a refocus on the Live brand over the next several months. Microsoft seems to be remaking Spaces into a MySpace competitor, and a lot of the new features follow that idea.

For example, users can now send messages directly to one another, and there is a guestbook that would allow friends to post rich-text comments. Taking a cue from Facebook, the front page now lets people know what their friends are doing.

"Thanks to everyone who has sent us feedback over the last few months. We've heard what you've been asking for with Spaces, and we've been working hard to create new features, which we hope you enjoy," product manager Chris Keating wrote.

Spaces is one of the fastest growing social sites on the Internet: the company says it has some 93 million users, and comScore Media Metrix data indicates that 112 million unique visitors pass through the site on a monthly basis.

While the site is one of the larger social networks on the web, TechCrunch's Michael Arrington noted that it is fairly unknown in the US, eclipsed by MySpace and Facebook. Much of Spaces' current userbase is outside of the country, stats show.