New Today screen makes Hotmail the world’s best social inbox!
Some changes to Hotmail are hitting our internet browsers today. One of them, Quick Add, is already known about however a nice surprise awaits for anyone that uses Hotmail’s Today page. Essentially what we now see is a cut down version of http://home.live.com comprising our What’s New feed, headlines from MSN and network suggestions.
There are some differences though that are both subtle and engaging:
- Rather than our entire What’s New feed we see updates only from those people in our Network listed as favourites.
- There is a link called “Surprise me” which shows what’s new updates from a random selection of your contacts
- Upcoming birthdays are listed
- We see suggestions for people that could be added to our network rather than a link to another page to see those suggestions
- There is a small space for Microsoft to show messages to users so as to educate them as to what other things are available on Windows Live
There is another surprise waiting for us too. Upon sending a mail we see what’s new updates from those people that we have just emailed if they have chosen to share their what’s new feed with us.
Overall I’m quite impressed; I was genuinely pleasantly surprised to log on and see this today. Moreover, I’m excited to see whether or not friends of mine that use Hotmail currently will be more drawn into using other features of Windows Live; I would expect these new features to be VERY compelling when Facebook updates start appearing on our What’s new feed as well.
N.B. If you don’t see the Today screen when you log onto Hotmail then simply head to http://mail.live.com and click on “Today” in the bottom left hand corner.
-Jamie
Hmmm. I normally get "Today" when I open Messenger! Is that one different, then? I’ll have to look tomorrow.
Jen
February 17, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Awesome post as usual, Jamie. Thanks for sharing this and I’m sure everyone is now that much more anxious to get their Hotmail accounts upgraded if they haven’t been already. This plus Quick Add are great steps forward for Hotmail, IMHO.
Marcus
February 18, 2009 at 12:41 am
Thanks, Jamie! I never even knew about that page! X
X-Evolutionist
February 18, 2009 at 12:44 am
Hey, someone noticed!
Dare
February 18, 2009 at 12:49 am
I noticed too, but my opinion was tempered because I also got the add Newsletters and I am still disappointed that I can’t remove MSN/MSNBC content from my Live homepage. I am really looking forward to sending a tweet and the cascade of actions… updates Facebook via Tweeter app and then WindowsLive updated via Facebook…
John
February 18, 2009 at 1:13 am
I have Hotmail configured to bypass the Today screen, so I’d have missed this without your great post. Why is all this great stuff buried way down here? I think some/all of these could be integrated into home.live.com to really bring the experience to the forefront. I love the idea of "favorite" and "surprise me" updates. Hotmail is no longer a standalone tool; bring its features into the suite!
Greg
February 18, 2009 at 2:20 am
Gah, only one of my Hotmail accounts has been updated. :(
crestind
February 18, 2009 at 3:25 am
Good post Jamie! As always you are ‘on the ball’ with news of updates. Just one of mine has been updated at the moment, but now Hotmail is looking far more integrated with the rest of Windows Live. Just wish we could have the ‘Quick Add’ integrated inside Windows Live Mail! Hmm, suppose its not possible. I used to like the incorportated ‘search’ feature in Windows Live Mail when it was in beta, but was ‘outvoted’ by other users and it was eventually dropped.
technogran
February 18, 2009 at 6:31 am
I agreee with TG, on the ball!!!
Nik
February 18, 2009 at 7:31 am
Fantastic!
Jeffrey
February 18, 2009 at 8:58 am
Cheers for the info. I turned off the Today screen ages ago. As it was close to useless. Heading for the PC, to switch it back on!Commented from my Windows Mobile® phone.
Jasper
February 18, 2009 at 11:18 am
Did you also notice the People changes? You can now see who is in your messenger and profile network and easily change it.
Omar
February 18, 2009 at 3:05 pm