Twitter, Facebook and Xbox Live Integration

By Richard Hay, on October 19th, 2009

Gamers on Xbox360 who use Xbox Live are about to see the integration of social media with the Xbox360 interface.

We know from all the news out there since the E3 announcement earlier this year that Twitter and Facebook will be the two main social media systems added to the console. In fact the preview of that console update is expected to be released this week sometime.

I have watched the video demo of the new social media and read the websites and I find this integration lacking in a few ways.

In fact I posted about this on my Twitter account earlier tonight and got a couple of replies from @iians and @Adam_Phillips87 and that prompted me to write this entry.

Initially it looks like Microsoft is simply making these apps available to Xbox Live users to be able to participate in these social media communities from their Xbox consoles.

Using these apps to share on social networking sites will be a challenge unless you have the small textpad keyboard that is sold as an accessory for your controller. Otherwise it means moving a cursor around with various sticks and buttons to write a message. Very painful and slow.

However, what if these apps were integrated with Xbox Live and games to publicize what the gamer might be doing either in the console or a game?

Some examples of the type of integration I mean:

Post the following situations:

What game is being played
Whether in the console or not/what activity is being done in the console
Logged in/out status of Xbox Live
Achievements gained and in what game
Current gamer score/gamer score increases

Make all of these optional so the gamer can pick the level of integration they want with their Twitter or Facebook feeds. By linking the names of games in the various tweets you create even further exposure for those items.

Whether it be Microsoft or game developers there are massive opportunities for some great integration with these social media communities and the Xbox360 console.

Do you have any ideas for this integration between the Xbox Live service and social media? Go ahead and add them to the comments to build up the list and share the ideas. Thanks.

Richard Hay (3358 Posts)

Richard is the Owner of WindowsObserver.com and has been involved in tech for over 25 years. His first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then he used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and what you see here today is the result of the work he has continued on the site since 1995. In January 2010 his community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when he was awarded the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for Windows Desktop Experience. In January 2011 he was renewed as a Microsoft MVP but in a new category called Windows Expert - Consumer and in January 2012 he received the award for the third time.

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