How Microsoft can turn Live Spaces into a success

Windows Live Spaces is currently marketed as a blogging platform but there isn’t one decent blog here. What Microsoft needs to do is to change the focus of Spaces from blogging to social networking. Most of blogs hosted on Spaces already has those, “What I’m listening to” and “Movies I Like” modules, and is centered around groups of friends. What Microsoft should do is change the focus from blogging to social networking. With slight tweaks here and there, and some improvements to friends, comments and photos features and Live Spaces should be on its way to popularity.

But Windows Live should still have a blogging platform which should replace Spaces as Microsoft’s blogging service, but it needs to be a very powerful and professional tool, like Wordpress or TypePad. Currently TypePad isn’t free, and Wordpress.com doesn’t allow you to put up your own ads, so there are serious blogger who need a free hosted solution, but finds Blogger to be lacking in features. If Microsoft can come up with a ad-free hosted blogging solution geared at serious bloggers it would be a hit. Microsoft can profit by allowing the blogger to easily put up and manage MSN adCenter ads on their blogs.