Owners of Microsoft's XBox 360 are about to get a whole lot of social network toys added to their console. A Dashboard update for paid XBox Live accounts scheduled for this year is bringing Facebook, Twitter and the social music site Last.FM to the video game console. Gaming news site Joystiq put up an in-depth hands-on review of the new functionality.

The most surprisingly well-executed addition to the Xbox experience comes through Facebook. Critics are quick to point out that Facebook can be accessed readily from almost any other device, whether it be a mobile phone or a PC. While much of Facebook's core functionality is replicated on the Xbox, Microsoft's app significantly streamlines and improves the experience, especially when browsing photo albums. Whereas the dot com site is plagued by a sluggish AJAX design, the Xbox app loads photos and galleries instantly, making it much faster and easier to browse through your friend's pics.

For those of us who are gaming AND social media junkies the wait will only seem like an eternity, the public Beta of the new services is scheduled to start later this month.