We’ve had some new faces join the Windows Live Community recently!  Please join me in welcoming these three new members:

I’m overdue in recognizing Greg as a new member.  He’s been blogging up a storm, participating in new Windows Live Groups like LiveSoapbox and All Things Live, and been a super addition to the community.  He’s already up to silver status with club points!  Find out more about him and see his posts by clicking on his profile picture.

Docextreme and I had a bit of a rough road figuring out what was was causing a problem with his community application, but he hung in there with me and we finally got things to work.  I’m happy he was persistent so we now can all take a look at his posts about using and customizing Windows Live Spaces.  Click on his profile picture to see his profile and his posts.

In the space of just a few days, Jasper has posted several how-to tips, mostly about using Windows Live on his Windows Mobile device.  He also recently posted a story about going on a bus trip and how he planned to stay in touch while on the go.  Just click on his profile picture to find out more about Jasper and read his contributions to the community.

We’re all glad to have each of you as members of our community!  If any of you reading this would like to join us and share your knowledge and expertise with the world, just visit http://www.windowslive.com/clubhouse/join for details.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

I was recently chatting with a member of our Windows Live Community, and he asked me if we had considered having a Facebook presence.  I thought about it, and since the Clubhouse is all about sharing expertise with others, a Facebook application seemed like a great thing to add to our community.  My hope is that this gives you a fun way to stay connected to the Clubhouse, introduce your Facebook friends to our community, and provide yet another way to spread your Windows Live knowledge.

The application has a lot of features, but I think the coolest part is an RSS feed that pulls in the latest posts that make it to WindowsLive.com/Explore.  Now, when you’re on Facebook, you can stay up-to-date with what’s happening in the Clubhouse.  You can also add a badge to your profile so you can proudly display your Clubhouse membership.  And, in case your Facebook friends are curious, they can take the video tour of the Clubhouse to find out what it’s all about.

So for those of you with a Facebook account, you can access the app here: http://apps.facebook.com/windows_clubhouse. To add the badge right onto your profile page, be sure to click the “add to profile” button. And if you want to add the app to your tabs for easier access, click the plus-sign button at the top of your profile page. Each time you visit the application page it will refresh with the newest member posts.

As always, I welcome your feedback on this application or anything about our community.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager

When you visit the Clubhouse website, you’ll see we’re starting to run multiple challenges at the same time.  We heard from some of you, our community members, that you’d like to see more frequent and varied challenge options.

The active challenges right now are:

• Your New Year’s Resolutions:  Share any resolutions you’ve made and how Windows Live might help you with them. 
• Reflecting on CES 2009:  What did you think of all the announcements from CES 2009?  Any big surprises?  Any think you hoped to have seen but didn’t?

We hope you have fun with these challenges and can share your thoughts with the rest of our community and with others who see your contributions on http://www.windowslive.com/explore. 

If you have any ideas for future challenges, I’d love to hear them.  Please just leave a comment here.

- Marcus, Windows Community Manager 

A few weeks back, I blogged about the new Microsoft Answers site, dedicated to more community-oriented support for Windows Vista.  From my perspective, I think it’s a great step forward, but I’m interested in what you think. 

Have you checked it out yet?  Have you asked or answered any questions there?  What did you think?  Would you want to see Windows Live products and services added to the Answers site?

Please leave a comment and let me know your thoughts.  I had quite a few people comment on my original blog entry about Answers, but would love to hear what the readers of the Clubhouse blog think too.

Thanks for your input!

Marcus, Windows Community Manager

For those of you who are members of the Clubhouse site, you’ll notice a new challenge was just posted.  We’d love to hear about all your resolutions for the new year!

If you’re not a member of the Clubhouse site, just head on over to http://www.windowslive.com/clubhouse/join to find out how to get involved in the community and start sharing your expertise with others.

Have a great weekend!

Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

We’re already humming along in the new month with all the CES announcements, but I wanted to let you know of what’s still to come this month for our community:

First, the screencast challenge will be wrapping up next week.  We’ve got some great submissions so far.  If you still want to get yours in, now is the time!  The SkyDrive team has specifically asked me for any cool and innovative uses of SkyDrive that you might want to show off in a video.

Second, we’ll have more challenges starting and running concurrently this month.  I’ve heard from several of you that you’d like more choices to participate in different challenges, so we’ll get those going very soon!

Third, we’ll have some community expansion plans to announce this month.  Thanks to you, we’ve got a great start and now we’re ready to make the community even bigger and better.  More news on how we’re expanding soon.

Have a great rest of the month and stay warm!

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

Lots happening at CES 2009 tonight.  Rather than repeat everything, here are some key links:

• Microsoft PressPass CES site with announcement details and videos
• Windows Live team blog post about today’s announcements, including general availability of Windows Live Essentials as well as partnerships with Dell and Facebook
• My own little blog entry with my initial thoughts on what I’ve seen so far.

It will be fun to watch the rest of the industry announcements in the days ahead.

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager

Over the last several months, we’ve been building a community of people that are incredibly knowledgeable about Windows Live.  Our community has been blogging, doing podcasts, and recording videos that are reviewed by the community on the Clubhouse site, with the top rated contributions then appearing on http://www.windowslive.com/explore.

With all the great posts by everyone, the challenge is finding space to showcase them all.  But with the new Windows Live social networking features, you can make sure you’re recognized as the expert you are, and your posts can appear on the home pages of everyone in your network.

The first step is to show off your expertise.  There are lots of ways to do this, for instance:

• Modify your profile picture, for example:

 

or things like:

… etc.

• Change your personal message on your profile and messenger:

• Create a custom e-mail signature:
  • I know Windows Live, check out my posts: (link to your blog)
  • I’m testing Windows 7, see what I think: (link to your blog)
• Add badges/graphics to your blog – a great example of this is what   Vasudev does on the left side of his LiveViews Space. 

After you’ve started advertising your expertise, next you can start encouraging people to add you to their network.  For more on this, check out this video I recently created about finding and adding people.  Just encourage people to add you with a brief closing request at the end of each of your blog posts, audio recordings, or video clips.

As you become more renowned and your entourage grows we’ll constantly be looking for ways to give you increased visibility, through our websites, advertising, press outreach, newsletters, and more. 

Together, we can all have at least 15 minutes of fame in 2009. 

- Marcus, Windows Live Community Manager