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The next Xbox 360 Fall Dashboard update is about a week away and Microsoft today announced one of the features to arrive on December 4: “Friends of Friends.”

The new feature is another step towards the social experience of online play and will enable users to view the friends lists of other Xbox Live members directly from the Dashboard and send messages, game invites and compare games and achievements. According to Microsoft, "This type of capability has largely come to be expected from consumers as a means to relate in an online community."

When the Fall Dashboard update is distributed, the new default setting on Xbox Live will be active. If you are concerned about your privacy though, you can control who looks at your Friends List by heading over to www.xbox.com/fof and selecting either Blocked (private friend list), Friends only (open browsing for friends only), or Everyone (anyone can browse your friends) on your profile settings.