Brad’s latest tweet is right.

outlook is my social network. i’m so perplexed that microsoft hasn’t taken advantage of that yet. linkedin / outlook integration is an A.

So why not?  This isn’t a simple “upload my Outlook contacts now and then” idea.  It’s a much tighter integration.  I’m not too keen on Microsoft knowing everything about every communication I have with everyone, but the upside of a tool that tracks (without me doing anything extra) my contacts, correspondence, discussion topics, meetings (through calendar), and more, and then leverages that data to intelligently compare it with similar data from my first, second, third (and so on) degree relationships could be significant.

One hurdle is privacy. Right or wrong, people assume their email is relatively private and secure, where correspondence through LinkedIn, Facebook, etc., is considered more public.  If Microsoft drops a social network onto Outlook, do they hurt that perception of privacy — even if there are clear ways to opt-out — to the long-term detriment of that product? Is it worth the risk?

I think the perception problem is manageable if the technology solution is sound, and the potential value of the right product to end users would be a significant incentive to give it a shot.  I would.