Outlook Forums by Slipstick.com - Outlook Social Connector update

An update for the social connector was released earlier this week. Included in the release are Facebook and Live Messenger providers and an updated social connector. Unlike the LinkedIn and MySpace providers released earlier, Facebook and Live Messenger providers support 64-bit Outlook. (You'll need to wait a bit longer for 64-bit versions of MySpace and LinkedIn providers.)

An updated connector is available for Outlook 2003 and 2007. Outlook 2010 users can go to Windows Update to get the patch or download it manually.

Note that Outlook 2010 RTM is required for this update as the new connector only supports Office version 14.0.4763.1000. You can verify the version in Control Panel, Programs and Features. Do this by selecting the Office 2010 installation and checking the version at bottom of the window. If you are using an earlier build, you need to uninstall it and install the trial or a purchased version.

Those familiar with the LinkedIn provider are aware it downloads your LinkedIn contacts to a LinkedIn contacts folder. The Facebook provider does not store the contacts (or feed updates) locally . It uses on-demand contact and activity sync because Facebook terms of use prevent caching of user information. On-demand providers use the email addresses of recipients on a message to retrieve contact and activity information from Facebook, but those addresses are passed to the Facebook provider in a hashed format to protect the privacy of users that have not joined the Facebook network.

Anyone with the Facebook provider installed will see the Facebook profile pictures belonging to email addresses on the message but not status updates, unless the person's privacy settings allow it. The recipient addresses need to be associated with the social networking account. For example, if mary@example.com has a Facebook account but sends you email from mary@smith.com, you won't see her Facebook profile picture or updates, even if she is a friend.

Frequently asked questions about Outlook Social Connector
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2276763

First published in Exchange Messaging Outlook July 15 2010