Microsoft has announced a number of upgrades to the Windows Live service, which will add a social edge to the company’s communications services.

The updates will affect Spaces, Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger, and will make them interconnect more. Microsoft is not trying to create a new social networking site, it says, but rather to integrate concepts such as news feeds and profiles, which are popular features of dedicated social networks.

"The general thing people are trying to do in all of these services is keep in touch," said Brian Hall, Windows Live general manager.

Microsoft is looking to make users spend more time on Windows Live, which according to hall already makes up 11 percent of all time spent on the internet, thanks to the popularity of the company’s Hotmail and Messenger services.

Redmond is also revamping the Windows Live Home page that adds a news-feed of activities by the user’s contacts and new view types that on the goings-on of a particular group or person.

Microsoft has also partnered up to receive feeds from reviews sites like Amazon and Yelp, blogging sites like WordPress and Twitter, and other less known sites.

"Facebook and MySpace are not on there right now," Hall said. "We're announcing a set of partners that are deploying in December."

Photo sharing is also being developed upon by Microsoft, who are providing their own storage options, and linking to third-party sites like Photobucket and Flickr. HP will bundle Microsoft’s Windows Live Photo Gallery software on its consumer printers starting next year.

Most of the features are in private testing for now and will be available to the public starting next month, says Hall. Microsoft is also providing a functionality upgrade, increasing the storage of its SkyDrive service from 5 GB to 25 GB.