One of the new services as part of the Windows Live Wave 3 launch is Windows Live Profile. To put it simply, Profile is the place to display information about yourself to others – as opposed to Windows Live Home that delivers information about other users straight to you. You are able to choose exactly what information you’d want to display, and which contacts you want to access your Profile information.

Windows Live Profile aggregates the following information, all into one place for your convenience:

• About Me – personal and social details about yourself, such as your birthday, hometown, interests, hobbies…etc.

• Lists of favorite things – this is the “lists” originally part of Spaces, now moved into your Profile, showing your favorite movies, music, books and any other custom lists you would like to share.

 

• Network – this is the “friends” that was originally part of Spaces too, showing your circle of friends and allowing others connect to your “Network”, or even introduce new friends to you and vice versa. This integrates tightly with Windows Live People – where you are able to manage your contacts and Networks. (Note that contacts can be in your People’s address book but not part of your Network, but those whom you added on Messenger are automatically added to your Network now)

• Notes – you might’ve noticed the text “Post a Note” in Messenger’s What’s New feed, this allow other users to comment on your recent activities that appears on your Profile and What’s New feed, if you allow them to do so.

• Private messages – as opposed to Notes which is available for others to see, private messages are, as the name speaks for itself, private. You’re able to send short private messages to each other in Profile quickly, instead of having to send emails

• What’s New feed – this is the place that display all your recent activities, on any of the Windows Live services, or on any other third-party services (called Web Activities), all in one place. You may choose what you’d like to display, and who you’d want to share these information with. Examples of what might appear here include what you’ve recently uploaded onto SkyDrive and Photos, which Network you’ve joined recently, what personal status message or display picture you’ve updated on Messenger, what blog posts on Spaces or any Notes you’ve posted recently, and also updates from any of the Web Activities you’ve added.

• Web Activities – Microsoft has partnered with over 50 companies for this (more details on this later), allowing you to display information about yourself on any of these third-party services, including Twitter, Yelp, iLike, WordPress, Flickr and many more. For example, any updates to your Twitter feed, any new blog updates from your WordPress-powered blog, any updates to your Flickr photos, or any new items you’ve added on iLike will appear in your What’s New feed when you’ve added the Web Activities for these services respectively on your Profile.

Since its separation from Spaces, Windows Live Profile has become one of the most prominent services in the Wave 3 release. Profile takes your privacy seriously and users are able to configure almost everything that is to be displayed on their Profile. It facilitates the backend of your entire integrated social profile while introducing a new way to keep your contacts updated about yourself. Very nicely done!

Thanks to Picturepan2 for the heads up for this!