From Geocities to MySpace and Facebook, social network services have been evolving and constantly growing from 1994. Once used by just a few, today social networks represent one of the biggest categories of interest among internet users, with a stunning fact that every internet user has at least one social network profile. Hotmail decided to grab a spot in this rising movement with nothing other than its own inbox. For example you can use your hi5 login details to integrate hotmail with it. Even hotmail sign in details can be used to open accounts on various social networking websites.
The task of social network integration comes down to two main features. First, by simple use of predefined filters, the e-mail user can easily categorize messages he receives from multiple social network sites. Basically all messages from all sites you have a profile on can be viewed directly from a single inbox. The second, a truly more complex feature, is the plan to make Hotmail into a “social network aggregator”. What this means is that you can receive and send updates to up to 35 social networking sites, again all from your inbox. The main idea was that, if you once used MySpace for instance, but overtime stopped, now you are encouraged to go back to using it, since you won’t have to visit the site directly, rather you can view updates and update your own profile from you e-mail inbox. So if you receive a new tweet on Twitter, you can just click and read it right in your inbox, as well as instantly reply or update your status.
In the end a brief list of social networking sites you can access via Hotmail: Facebook, Youtube, Myspace, DIgg, Hulu, Tistory, Miniblog, WordPress, Blog RSS Feed, Yelp, Dailymotion, Typepad, Pandora, Live journal, Last.fm, Buddytv.com, Flixster, Smugmug, Multiply, Newsvine, Like, hi5, Slideshare, Goodreads, Stumbleupon, Wow.ya.ru, Dada, Metroflog, Wat.tv, Libero community, Fotolog, Blogs@mail.Ru, Daum, Blingee, Skyrock, Flickr, Photobucket, Twitter, CNET.