Windows Live Spaces (also known by its users as MSN Spaces) is Microsoft’s blogging and Social Networking platform. The site was originally released in early 2004 under the MSN Spaces name to compete with other social networking sites. Windows Live Spaces received an estimated 27 million (27,000,000) unique visitors per month as of August 2007.

Basic Functionality

Basic functionality of Windows Live Spaces includes:

• Blogs – including support for comments, trackbacks, and RSS
• Photos – including support for grouping by album, comments, and RSS
• Lists – including Music lists, Movie lists, Book lists, and support for RSS
• Friends – including tags and notes on friends and support for RSS
• Profile – including basic info, personal info (defaulted to non-public), work info, and social info
• Guestbook – for visitors to comment on the space

Gadgets

Several “gadgets” are available for Windows Live Spaces users that allows for greater customisation of an individual’s space. The “Windows Media Player” Gadget gives users the ability to play and display music and videos on their Windows Live Space. The “Tweak UI” Gadget, gives users the flexibility to alter the style, color and transparency of certain aspects of a Windows Live Space, while the “Custom HTML” Gadget grants users the ability to call a small amount of hand-written HTML code (a feature that is often used for displaying banners and other graphics).

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