Friends are an important part of any online community, and Xbox Live was one of the first online communities to connect console gamers together. Not a lot has changed since then, even with the move to the Xbox 360, but the Xbox One will be introducing some major changes.

This morning, Xbox’ Major Nelson gave us a walkthrough of the new Friends App on the Xbox One. It’s similar to your friends list on the Xbox 360, but you can do so much more now. For instance, friends on Xbox Live now work a lot like a Twitter. You can send somebody a friend request, and doing so will make you a follower. That person can then either you follow you back, or condemn to a life of only following their footsteps.

The profile page will also receive a hefty upgrade on the Xbox One with a screen that details a person’s number of friends, their number of followers and how good of a reputation they have. From this screen, you can also send them a message, invite them to a party or even add them to your favorites.

Speaking of which, the favorites list is a new feature of Xbox Live that allows players to add their super special friends to a separate list. You can think of this favorites list as the people you want to stalk interact with most.

With the Friends App, Microsoft hopes to make Xbox Live more personal. You can even use snap view to bring up a sidebar of what your friends are doing at any time – even during a game. That will surely be a useful addition to those who want to see what their friends are doing without having to exit the game currently being played.

[Image: xbox/YouTube]