With the Outlook Social Connector (OSC), you can connect to people and their resources residing in SharePoint 2010. The OSC connector for SharePoint is available out-of-the-box with Outlook 2010.

Connectors are available for third-party business and social networks such as MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Windows Live.

In Outlook 2010, contacts will appear in the People Pane at the bottom of a mail message.

Click on the pictures of other addressees and you'll see their picture highlighted with related information, such as recent e-mail, out-of-office messages, messages with attached files, and calendar information.

By selecting the icons to the right of the person's picture, you can see all items or filter by RSS feeds, unread messages, messages with attachments, calendar invitations, or IM conversations.

With OSC, you can synchronize data from networking sites. You will receive updates in one manageable view. It's an easy way to track all the ways you communicate with contacts in your business and social networks—in one place. So, for example, you could see information about everyone copied in an e-mail whether you use SharePoint, LinkedIn, or MySpace to connect with them.

Let's take a look at how you set up an OSC connection.

First of all, Microsoft has made the specifications and Software Developer Kit (SDK) for creating connectors available. Using the SDK, third-party developers of social and business networks can develop and make their connectors available.

You will need to download the connector from the site you use, and then set up the connection in Outlook 2010.

To set up the OSC connector for Windows Live Messenger, for example, follow these steps:

Now, updates about your contacts from Windows Live Messenger will appear in the People Pane.