Social Networking and Xbox Live: Missed Opportunities.

I should start with the disclaimer that I'm not much of a social networking kind of guy. I like Twitter because I don't need to offer up much in the way of personal information, and I can follow the comments of friends and interesting people easily. Facebook doesn't serve much of a purpose for me; in fact, the only reason I have a Facebook account is because I accidentally completed the account creation process while trying to figure out if an automated "check your address book" system was the reason my dad had been getting spammed with Facebook invites. I've since glanced at Facebook occasionally, but I have all of five friends on there. Five. I don't see a reason to network with hundreds of people I don't know or care about, since that seems a tad insincere.

That said, I like the new social networking additions to Xbox Live, but I really wish more effort was put into better integrating Facebook, Twitter, and last.fm into the service as a whole. Simply having them as stand-alone applications smattered across the NXE interface cheapens their existence somewhat, and really makes me think Microsoft rushed these ideas out, or wasn't all that interested in them to begin with.

Let's start with Twitter. The interface you launch into is fine for an external interface, but how about giving the option to tweet in the middle of a game by opening up the guide? I'd even be interested in the option of having a Twitter-colored notification pop up, much like for achievements or friends signing on, any time I receive an @ reply through Twitter (though that would be an incredible nuisance for anyone with a mass following).

I understand there are future plans for Facebook integration with Facebook connect, but I'd like to see a lot more integration for Facebook than Twitter. Wouldn't those notorious Uncharted 2-style Twitter updates work better posted as automatic summaries on Facebook? I'd be all right with my Xbox reporting to Facebook that I broke a certain gamerscore barrier or beat a game, along with other significant accomplishments. Furthermore, with the emphasis on Facebook's photo albums, I'd love to have the option to post any pictures I took in Banjo-Kazooie: Nuts & Bolts, Forza 3, or any other game directly to albums on my account.

As for last.fm, I think everyone wants to be able to use that feature outside of the application. Plain and simple.

Certainly a lot of these ideas would require game developers to jump on board and force Microsoft to retool the NXE interface. I think the lack of any of that shows just how poorly Microsoft planned out these features. Is that a shame? Absolutely. I still think there's a lot of potential in proper integration on consoles that would increase the value of both these internet social networks and Xbox Live at the same time.

(I have no comments on the Zune marketplace. I still avoid watching movies ever since my eyes gazed upon the Rollerball remake.)