Xbox Will Soon Run Facebook and Twitter

TechFlash reports: Microsoft hasn't yet announced a specific release date for the initial debut of Facebook and Twitter on Xbox Live this fall, but the Xbox team appears to be having lots of fun with them in internal tests.

Marc Whitten, the Xbox Live general manager, posted his first tweet from the console on September 16, as made clear by the tag "posted from Xbox Live," where Twitter identifies the application being used.

Apart from that, Whitten wasn't exactly hiding the fact that he was testing the service: "Twitter on Xbox looking nice! Team has done some good work here!" Scott Hillis of the Xbox team made a similar tweet late last week, also referencing internal testing of Facebook on the console: "Playing with Twitter and Facebook on Xbox Live. Amazing."

Like the earlier Netflix integration, the Facebook and Twitter applications are meant to broaden the appeal of the console.

If the social-networking tools become popular on Xbox Live, one trend that will be interesting to watch is sales of the attachable thumb-keyboard accessory for the Xbox 360 controller. Without it, users will be left to struggle with the more cumbersome on-screen keyboard, selecting letters individually with the controller.