Microsoft Outlook becomes social network hub

Microsoft has announced that Outlook users will now be able to access Facebook and MySpace info via their inboxes.

In addition to the announcement, Microsoft has released the beta version of the Outlook Social Connector, a social networking feature of Office 2010, which allows users to access Linkedin updates through the Outlook inbox.

The add-on creates a pane in the Outlook email window that displays recent LinkedIn information along with received emails. When an email is received, its sender's LinkedIn information is displayed alongside the original email.

The Facebook and MySpace additions to Outlook are expected within the next few months.

To get started with the Outlook Social Connector, you'll need the following:

Office 2010 Beta.

The latest beta version of the Outlook Social Connector, available here.

The LinkedIn download for the Outlook Social Connector, available here.