As part of its Fall Dashboard Update on December 4, Microsoft also plans to add social networking features in its Xbox Live platform, allowing members to connect to old friends, meet new ones, send messages, and compare games.

Dubbed as the Friends of Friends, members can meet new friends by browsing the Friends lists of other Xbox LIVE members. Each member has the option to limit the people who can see his or her friends list. The default settings are:

1. Adults – Everyone
2. Teenagers (13-17 years old) – Friends Only
3. Children (under 13 years old) – Blocked

Given the presence of many social networks like Facebook and MySpace, Microsoft believes this feature is already expected by consumers as a way to interact in the online community.

The Xbox Live community has more than 8 million members worldwide and a social networking feature can be a very powerful tool to enhance the online gaming experience.

However, not all Xbox Live members find this new feature cool. Xboxer, for one, thinks this is very disappointing because video games used to be a safe place you could go to escape from people and talking.

The good news is that members can also turn off this feature if they find it annoying.

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