[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]Hi5 is rolling out a healthy list of updates, that all appear to take the network further in the direction of Facebook. That's the thing to do these days: mimic Zuckerberg and you too could be on 60 Minutes one day. Just as MySpace and LinkedIn and countless other networks have done in recent months, hi5 has added features to keep you in the know, at all times. That means status updates and friend updates.
The "Scrapbook" topics have actually been merged with the new status feature, which means that your friends can actually reply to your status and let you know what they think about your being sleepy, or hungry at lunch time. There doesn't appear to be any mobile integration for the friend updates, which is Facebook's primary differentiating factor, but I'm still waiting for a centralized way to update my status across all networks. Make it a one-stop shop, and I'll be a happy gal (doesn't that speak to the commerce of Twitter?).
Moving along, hi5 also lets you know which of your friends are currently online. Blocked users can no longer see your profile, and private messages from non-friends will now go to the new bulk inbox. What we've got here is a slew of updates to streamline the process of managing your hi5 account, which is always a good thing, and should make regular hi5 users happy for the time being.
Another interesting feature that hi5 is adding is photo ordering. This was a highly requested feature from users, and it too helps you better manage the photo albums aspect of your hi5 account. You can set your album cover, re-order and delete photos using a simple drag'n'drop interface.