The latest version of Windows Live Messenger has a brand new feature: Facebook integration, which allows you to fully interact with Facebook without having to access it from a browser. You can do absolutely anything you want to, in terms of interaction with the service and your friends. This article will cover how to connect to Facebook from Windows Live Messenger, how to see your friends' status messages and other activities and how to add comments to their updates.
Where to Find Windows Live Messenger
Windows Live Messenger is one of the programs from Windows Live Essentials 2011. Don't forget to select it from the list of available applications when installing the suite, as we have shown in our how to install Windows Live Essentials 2011 guide.
Windows Live Messenger will start after you have finished installing Windows Live Essentials 2011 and automatically, each time you start your computer. If you have closed it before logging in, there are several ways in which you can find it. Just type messenger in Start Menu's search bar and, under Programs, choose Windows Live Messenger. Another option is to follow the path: Start -> All Programs -> Windows Live Messenger.
Connect With Your Facebook Account
After you have opened Windows Live Messenger, the first thing you have to do is to log in with your Windows Live account. Type your e-mail address and password and click Sign in.
The Windows Live Messenger window will open. Click the Add button in the lower right-hand side of the window.
Select Facebook from the list of available services.
There are five options from which to select when connecting Facebook with Windows Live Messenger. From Facebook to Windows Live Messenger, you may: "Chat with my Facebook friends in Messenger"; "See my Facebook friends and their activities in Messenger"; and/or "Share my Facebook status and activities with my Messenger friends". From Windows Live Messenger to Facebook, you may: "Share my Windows Live status message and activities with my Facebook friends"; and/or "Let me publish photos to Facebook and tag my Facebook friends in them".
Press Connect to Facebook after you have selected the things you want enabled.
Next step is to enter your Facebook account information: e-mail and password. When done, click Login. It is also a good idea to check the 'Keep me logged in' box if you plan to access your Facebook account often. This will make Windows Live Messenger remember your password and not have you type it each time you want to access your Facebook account.
Once you are connected to Facebook you will see the window below. Click Close.
Windows Live Messenger has two views: compact and full. In the compact view you will only see the list of friends.
In the full view, apart from the friends' list, you can see Facebook updates, arranged by different categories: highlights, recent, me, photos, more. You can switch from compact to full view and vice-versa by clicking the view button, in the right side of the window.
View The Highlights of Your Facebook Friends' Activities
The default view is highlights and contains your friends' most relevant updates.
Click the links shared by your friends to view them in your browser.
Youtube videos can be played directly in Windows Live Messenger, without needing to open a browser.
If one of your friends just added some photos, these will be seen as a slide-show.
How to Add Comments
If you want to comment to your friends' posts, just press the '+' button and write your comment.
If someone else already commented to a post, all you need to do is write your thoughts and press Enter. The comment will appear.
View Latest Facebook Posts
If you only want to see the latest posts from your friends, press the recent link.
View Just Your Own Activities
To see your recent activity on Facebook, go to the me link.
View Photo Posts
Press Photos to check-out just those posts which contain images.
View Status Messages Updates
If you are interested in status messages updates only, go to more and select Status messages.
View Links Shared By Your Friends
Go to more -> Links to see the list of links shared by your Facebook friends.
Where To View Videos Posts
You want to see just the videos posted? Go to more and choose video.
Conclusion
Facebook integration with Windows Live Messenger is one of the goodies that Microsoft brought along with Windows Live Essentials 2011. With this article I covered the Facebook connection to Windows Live Messenger and showed how to track the updates of your friends. In future articles I will show how to share your status and photos on Facebook, tag your friends in photos and chat with them through Facebook chat directly from Windows Live Messenger.