For those of you who don’t want to worry about updating your address books, we’d love your help testing our new beta feature – Live Contacts. With Live Contacts, the next time you move or change jobs, your contact info will automatically be updated for those you care about. No more mass e-mails or cutting and pasting into address books. It’s that simple.
How does this work?
Live Contacts allows you to share different information with different groups of people. You set the permission levels. For example, you can share your personal info with your Messenger buddies and your business info with the people who can view your Space. These people can subscribe to your contact info to automatically receive any updates you make. They can view this on your Spaces profile or their Messenger/Hotmail/Mail Beta contact list.
How do I get started?
There are two parts to this: sharing your contact info and subscribing to updates from others.
To start sharing your contact info, click on “Edit Profile” on your Space and scroll down to the Contact Info section of your Profile.
1. Fill out as much information as you want in the Personal and Business sections.
2. Decide who can see your contact information using the “Permissions” settings.
3. Choose who you want to tell about sharing your contact info. If they subscribe to your info, they can get automatic updates.
To subscribe: As your friends start using this feature, you will receive email invitations from them. Simply click on the link “Make contact information live” to get automatic updates from this person.
I’m worried about giving out my contact information… how do I know this is secure?
With Live Contacts, you’re in control. You decide who can see your contact info – this does not have to be the same set of people who can view your Space. You can share your contact info with only one person or as many as you like. You can share your personal and business info with different groups of people.
Will my contact information be used for other purposes?
No. Our privacy policy ensures that Personally Identifiable Information (e.g., names, addresses, phone numbers, etc.) is never shared without the user’s explicit consent.
Will I get a email from my friend every time they update their Live Contact?
No! That’s part of the beauty of Live Contacts. If you sign up now you can send people email invites to subscribe to your contact. Once they subscribe, the experience is seamless. You update and they see it when they go into their address book in Hotmail or Messenger
We’re not done with this feature yet (hence the beta label). What you’re seeing here is really a Spaces preview of the feature – we’re planning to make it available in other services soon. In the meantime, we’d love to hear from you about what works and what doesn’t. Let us know what you think by emailing us at Live Contacts Beta Feedback