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GamePro got some hands-on time with the latest update which includes the much-touted social networking features.

These features include Last.fm, Facebook, and Twitter. These services will be available to Xbox Live Gold members only.

From GamePro:

Hey all, Dave here. I woke up at 3AM on a school night, but for good reason! The Xbox Twitter-Facebook-Last.fm update has now started for a few select gaming media members. My Twitter feed is embedded below, but for those of you who prefer thoughts longer than 140 characters long, here are my thoughts on each of the new upcoming additions to Xbox Live.

Before I get to specific impressions, here’s two Protips for both Twitter and Facebook, as well as some general information. Both are much more enjoyable if you play songs off your 360 or stream them from your 360-connected PC, and making use of a USB keyboard or Xbox 360 chatpad will make tweeting and Facebook commenting much easier. And while the placement of these new items might change, right now Twitter and Facebook are prominently displayed in the community section, where you currently also find the “Game with Fame” events. The Zune Marketplace is the first thing that pops up when you’re on the Music and Video section, and Last.fm is the second item listed in the music section. You can find the news feed at the end of the Inside Xbox section.

Twitter:As a bit of an Twitter addict, I made the micro-update social networking service my first destination. In terms of presentation, Twitter trumped everything else, with a stylized version of the front page (see above) that appears when you boot it up. It also runs as soon as you boot it, unlike Facebook and Last.fm, which required small downloads. Your feed will update every minute or so with new tweets from your friends, but you can manually update it by pressing Y. All of the updates must be manually entered by the user–you won’t have to deal with the Xbox dishing out Uncharted 2-style auto-tweets, thankfully. One major fault of the Xbox 360’s Twitter is the inability to click on links, since the Xbox 360 doesn’t have a web browser. While the 360 might not ever incorporate a browser, maybe Microsoft can do some work with Twitpic, flickr and Yfrog to make sure that the majority of images uploaded can be viewed on Xbox Live. Some smaller changes that would delight @daverudden would be to show the character count remaining instead of just stopping the tweet at 140 characters, as well as the ability to see the avatars of other Twitter friends who have linked their accounts to Xbox Live.

Facebook: I can see Facebook on Xbox 360 being a hit during the holidays. Instead of crowding the family around a PC, you can show you and your friends’latest photo albums on your HDTV! While the images don’t look as nice as if you put them on a thumbdrive, they’re passable, and the sheer depth of photo access can keep you entertained for hours. While you can also post updates, and comment on others’ updates and photos, a large part of Facebook is off the table when you use the Xbox 360. Particularly, you can’t access any videos (embedded or created via Facebook) use Facebook apps like Mafia Wars, or click on links. One feature that I can’t really comment on right now is the ability to link your Facebook friends to Xbox Live, and vice-versa. It could be a cool way to grow both of your friends lists exponentially, but with such a small number of users taking advantage of it right now, it’s hard to judge how well it’ll work.

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