For some years now, Microsoft has had a fan favorite feature in its Windows Phone OS: native integration support for Twitter and Facebook.
Introduced with Windows Phone 7, the feature was shown to be superior to what was available with iOS 5 and Android (the latter featuring no built-in support, instead relying on device manufacturers to bolt support onto their customized versions of Android). In time, with the release of Windows 8 as well as various entries in the Windows Live, Office, and Outlook software suites, Microsoft increased its use of its native support for Facebook. Given that Facebook has become one of the de facto standards for communication in the modern world, seamless integration was seen as a boon for anyone who bought into the Microsoft and Facebook ecosystems.
Which is why it seems there's been a rug pulled from under Microsoft's feet as Facebook changed the way it supports connections to 3rd party applications. More specifically, Microsoft says "Facebook Connect is no longer available".
More succinctly: Facebook integration no longer exists in Microsoft products.
Facebook Connect is the umbrella term for every API that Microsoft used as a means of connecting to all desired information: contact information, statuses, pictures, &etc. For the apps that replicated key functions of the Facebook application found on other platforms, this means they no longer function whatsoever. No posting, no liking, no status updates, no more pictures & video...nothing. Similarly, for apps that used the connection to beef up your contact list information, no more syncing and updating (either automatic or manual) can occur. Whatever's there is there, but beyond that users are effectively cut off.
No Microsoft service that made use of the Facebook Connect platform is immune. So if you have a Windows Phone device, or make use of Outlook connected with your Facebook contact list, or anything like that, be prepared to start handling things a bit differently.
For WP users, the Facebook for Windows Phone application still exists and still receives occasional updates (though at a reduced frequency in comparison to other platforms). For the other applications and other platforms, your usual process of interacting with Facebook has gained a few more steps. Putting out some photos or videos? You'll have to manually upload them through a browser or dedicated app. Finding contact information? Check it yourself, then manually enter it into the afflicted application. To that end, that is the basic summary of the expected impact: everything requires a little more manual work, but this turn of events is merely a severe inconvenience at worst.
Users of Microsoft's gaming consoles have already experienced something similar in prior years: the company removed dedicated apps and built-in support for Facebook on the Xbox 360, and support didn't find its way into the Xbox One; instead, they promoted use of the built-in Internet Explorer web browser for what limited functions are possible. (Comparatively, Twitter support made its way back to the Xbox One, though was never reinstated on the 360.)
Regardless, it's true that this is a bit of a mess, and Microsoft says that you can strictly expect all these services to remain permanently unavailable. There is no fix coming for any of the affected services, and should MS offer any support for FB integration in the future, it will be on a completely different platform.
What's interesting is that this doesn't seem to majorly affect native support for other companies. Apple offers some level of integration for social services in its operating systems, and nary a peep has been said about whether the change will affect any of their active OR obsolete software. Similarly, the change seems to leave other platforms alone, so it's merely affecting the way Microsoft managed to serve up content. The change echoes trouble Microsoft has had when trying to access Google's services, with many a Gmail user struggling back in 2013 when Google dropped support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync (and no native apps provided by Google to offset the change).
It's entirely possible this loss in functionality will be offset in future Microsoft products, but that has yet to be determined -- or even touted as a possibility.
To see the affected products, see the MS Office support article here (or search "Facebook Connect is no longer available"): https://support.office.com/en-us/article/Facebook-Connect-is-no-longer-available-f31c8107-7b5a-4e3d-8a22-e506dacb6db6
