Microsoft is currently accepting several thousand Beta testers. The new update will allow you to tinker with Facebook, Twitter, and Zune on your Xbox 360 before everyone else.

Want in on the XBOX LIVE Facebook, Twitter, Zune Beta?

Care to tinker with Facebook, Twitter, and Zune on your Xbox 360 before everyone else? Writes Microsoft's Larry "Major Nelson" Hryb, the company's now accepting applications for its Xbox LIVE Update Preview with "upcoming features such as Zune, Facebook, and Twitter." All you need to do is drop by the Microsoft Connect site, sign up with a Windows LIVE id that's linked to your XBOX LIVE Gamertag, and enter your 12-digit console identification number.

Microsofts looking for several thousand participants, which sounds like a lot, but really isn't, given the public enthusiasm for this particular update--that, and the preview's open to all regions where XBOX LIVE is available. Don't wait to plug in your contact info and muscle through the sign-up cross-sectional survey, in other words.

Having an XBOX LIVE Gold account gets you VIP access, though even then, it's down to Microsoft's oracular internal filtering processes who gets a golden email and who's left standing outside the gates peering in. The connect site states it'll review applicants and make selections "based on variables such as region and connection type." Presumably they'll be looking for a broad cross-section of user types.

CLICK to Try And Get It: X-Box Live Update