"I think Messenger?of all the products that get released out to the Web, you've seen faster innovation in MSN Messenger than anyone else's equivalent or any type of online thing. So that has been very fruitful for us as MSN Messenger is driven to number one market share," top dog Bill Gates proudly said yesterday at the Financial Analyst Meeting 2005 held at the Microsoft HQ in Redmond. One hundred and seventy five million customers (the current number of active MSN Messenger users) can't be wrong!

In a first-ever demo exclusive to the meeting's invitees, Blake Irving from the MSN Communication Services and Member Platform Group showed a couple of new features on the way for MSN Messenger. At this time it is still uncertain whether they will be added to MSN Messenger 7.5 currently in BETA or a higher version later on.

One of these features is a special file folder you can share with your contacts, much easier than the already available File Sharing activity. The shared folder will also be updated for all contacts involved as soon as documents are edited or added by an individual.

Furthermore and in an effort to fight the recent IM worm plague, Microsoft is planning to show the virus infection status of your contacts, so you'll know who to safely accept file transfers from or not. A special icon will show the information retrieved from OneCare Live, coming soon to BETA. Microsoft is hoping this built-in feature will skyrocket the use of the new antivirus service much like gleams did with MSN Spaces, the relatively new blog service which already attracts 55 million visitors per month.

Acknowleding the viral power of IM communities, the Redmond-based company is eventually building further on its impressive database of 8 billion contacts (this number, of course, includes duplication). One year ago we already talked about Microsoft's plans to construct a technology similar to social-networking software like Friendster, allowing you to create circles of friends based on specific qualities. Today we can tell you that it's going to be called Friends of Friends and it's expected to be launched this fall.


UPDATE: Overdo just posted more details on the social networking plans. Your circle of friends will be integrated into MSN Spaces, MSN Hotmail and MSN Messenger contact cards, and be manageable through a menu called Contact Control. From Jupiter's Microsoft Monitor: "In someone's My Space, there will appear pictures of the friends, which can include friends of other friends. Friends can be added from people known or associated with friends or from MSN Spaces searches. If friends are on MSN Messenger, a special icon indicates so."

Also according to Overdo, MSN Profiles will replace the MSN Member Directory and turn into a content module you can display on your Space. The personal information and the Display Picture stored in your MSN Profile will be shared across all MSN services, but you can create up to four profiles for different groups of people: there's a general profile, a social profile, a personal profile, and a business profile. Finally, with MSN Live Contacts, you can easily update your contact information in one central place.