It has been just over a year since we announced the release of the IM Control and Presence API. I wanted to take a moment to reflect over the past year and the growth we have seen. We service over a billion requests per month via the IM Control and Presence API from hundreds of websites for millions of users. A lot of this growing popularity is due to sites like Daum and Bumeran. Thank you to all the sites who have supported us and sent feedback. :)

I also wanted to highlight some of the changes that have been made over past year, largely due to feedback from developers and end-users.

• We launched a Messenger application for Facebook using the IM Control and Presence API. Then we upgraded it; we reduced the number of clicks required to start a conversation to one, we use your Facebook name as the default display name, and users now have the option to update their Facebook status automatically whenever they change their personal message in Messenger.
• We added support for right-to-left languages. The IM Control is now supported in 57 markets.
• We added support for custom display names in the IM Control. Now you don���t have to use the default “Visitor” display name.
• We added colorization capability to the IM Control, which is now available in 7 themes. The color is also completely customizable by editing the HTML tags.
• We fixed a bug in the IM Control and Presence API so that Online presence is displayed correctly.

We are always evaluating feedback we receive through this blog and through our forum. If you have questions, feature requests, or suggestions for improvement, please let us know.

Stay tuned for some exciting announcements about new features coming soon!

Thanks,
Casey Jones
Program Manager
Windows Live Contacts and Messenger Platform