What I love about the Outlook Social Connector

(This update is a repost from the Microsoft Office Blog written by Roby Kurian, Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Outlook) which shares my thoughts on using the Outlook Social connector.

I’ve been using the Outlook Social Connector for the last year with Office 2010. It’s a quick way to see the most recent interactions I’ve had with someone in a single place. I want to share what I’ve learned so you can get the most out of the Outlook Social Connector too.
The Outlook Social Connector is powerful and versatile — it can connect to SharePoint or social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn to bring activity feeds and photos into Outlook. One of the features that helps me most is seeing photos of people I work with. At Microsoft I often have meetings with colleagues who I’ve never met before. You might work in a similar situation if your company has offices located in many remote locations. It’s so amazing to walk into a crowded meeting and pick out the person I need to connect with out of a sea of unknown faces. The Outlook Social Connector brings photos from our SharePoint MySite, an internal social networking tool, into Outlook. Now when I’m collaborating with someone, I can put a face to the name. It brings a more personal and natural dynamic to the conversation.

The Outlook Social Connector People Pane appears under meeting requests I receive. Before I join a meeting, I’ll review the People Pane to familiarize myself with the names and faces of the meeting attendees.
I like the surprised look on people’s faces when I greet each of them by name and introduce myself. They’ll ask, “How did you know who’s who?” or “Have we met before?” I share my little secret; I think it helps more quickly establish a connection with my coworkers and get things done faster.
The Outlook Social Connector is also a big help when you interact with clients and partners. Recently, I was talking with a Microsoft partner in Australia who I’ve never met. Thanks to the Outlook Social Connector, I could see the photo she had posted on LinkedIn as part of her public profile.
After the introductions I said, “I can see the profile photo you posted on LinkedIn. Which city is that in the background?” We spent the next few minutes talking about the context of her photo and how the Outlook Social Connector works. She said that she was going to install the social network providers immediately after the call. It was a great way to start off the conversation with a casual chat that helped make a connection and led to a very productive call.
In another post, we shared with you many more ways the Outlook Social Connector can help you at work. What do you love about the Outlook Social Connector? Leave a comment and share your story.
--Roby Kurian
Sr. Product Manager, Microsoft Outlook