Microsoft has just announced that it’s added Facebook and Windows Live to the Outlook Social Connector, but it’s not entirely obvious how you access it. So here’s a quick step-by-step guide that tells you everything you need to know.

Step 1. Open up an email in Outlook 2010

There’s probably an empty thumbnail at the bottom-left of the email (it will only include a photo if you already link to that person via the LinkedIn connector, which launched with Outlook 2010). Press the thumbnail and you’ll see this.

Step 2. Add that person on “another social network”

Click on the Add button, then select “on another social network”.

Step 3. View other social network providers

Click on the “View social network providers available online” link at which point you’ll be taken here…

Step 4. Connect to your favourite social network

Previously this page only showed LinkedIn and myspace – now Facebook and Windows Live Messenger appear. All the instructions below should apply equally to Windows Live, but annoyingly the link above is broken right now (this is the correct link for Windows Live Messenger’s Social Connector provider). For the rest of this guide we’ll only talk about Facebook.

Step 5. Download the Facebook provider

Click on the Facebook icon and you’ll be directed to this download page. Scroll down until you see the two Download buttons – one for the 64-bit version of Office (OSCFB-x64-en-us.exe) and one for the 32-bit version (OSCFB-x86-en-us.exe). Download your chosen version and then double-click to install it.

Step 6. Download Outlook Social Connector 1.1

You’ll first be prompted to update the latest version of Outlook Social Connector, which will be downloaded automatically. Press Install and choose to automatically close Outlook when prompted.

Step 7. Almost there…

Outlook will restart with all your windows in the same position as before, but with a comforting message saying “The installation is complete”.

But that only refers to Outlook Social Connector 1.1. You will (probably) still find a dialog box open prompting you to install the Outlook Social Connector Provider for Facebook.

Step 8. Install the Facebook Social Connector Provider

Click Install and within seconds you’ll see the following screen:

Step 9. Start using it!

Now, when you restart Outlook and open an email, you should find Facebook added to the list of Social Network Accounts.

Select Facebook and you’ll be prompted to enter your login details. Then press Finish.

Hey presto, you’ll be able to see your friends’ Facebook feeds whenever you click on the People Pane in one of their emails.

Note, though, that this isn’t a way to update your details – you’ll still need to head to Facebook itself, or use a dedicated app, to do this.