Facebook officially unveiled their much hyped chat service today.
The social networking giant flicked the switch on the service which allows users of Facebook to message their friends quickly and efficiently from any page in Facebook. After a user agrees to go online they are greeted with their friends list in a pop up form on within an integrated version at the bottom of Facebook pages. Interestingly the connection doesn't appear to be SSL so it might be possible for bad guys to sniff any conversations with your friends.
Facebook is in the middle of a re-design aimed to promote aggregation for users personally. In a message to Facebook users the company says "As you have seen in our screen shots, the ‘Wall’ tab of your profile has a new emphasis on recent activity. We think this is the information that your friends care the most about, and the information that will recap what you have been up to lately. This change shouldn’t make you feel uncomfortable, and to ensure this we will be giving you control over what information is displayed about you. What’s really important is that you have a say in what information is being shared about you, and in turn, your friends have an easy way to see it."
It's not clear how big corporations and businesses will deal with the new chat service as it's so well integrated it may not be an easy task to block without blocking the whole of Facebook.
View: Facebook
The social networking giant flicked the switch on the service which allows users of Facebook to message their friends quickly and efficiently from any page in Facebook. After a user agrees to go online they are greeted with their friends list in a pop up form on within an integrated version at the bottom of Facebook pages. Interestingly the connection doesn't appear to be SSL so it might be possible for bad guys to sniff any conversations with your friends.
Facebook is in the middle of a re-design aimed to promote aggregation for users personally. In a message to Facebook users the company says "As you have seen in our screen shots, the ‘Wall’ tab of your profile has a new emphasis on recent activity. We think this is the information that your friends care the most about, and the information that will recap what you have been up to lately. This change shouldn’t make you feel uncomfortable, and to ensure this we will be giving you control over what information is displayed about you. What’s really important is that you have a say in what information is being shared about you, and in turn, your friends have an easy way to see it."
It's not clear how big corporations and businesses will deal with the new chat service as it's so well integrated it may not be an easy task to block without blocking the whole of Facebook.
View: Facebook
Aren't there enough IM systems already!?
Plus a little bit of "if everyone else can do it so can we"...
Plus a little bit of "if everyone else can do it so can we"...
+1
I like Facebook because I can keep tabs on whats going on everywhere in my social circle, but I most definitely do not associate with all the people on my list. Nor would I ever.
setting IM state as "offline"
Facebook really have got the whole site design and functionality knocked right on the head....
they are the gods of web development!
kicks myspace's a*se any day!
I've not yet worked at a company that didn't block facebook.
Nice concept, it's quite cool if you know someone's online, but I don't see it replacing WLM/AIM/YIM etc any time soon.
They're all a waste of your life anyway..
Much like fuggin SOAPS (eastenders, CoraNogga etc...GAH!
Tell us how you really feel!
I have loads of people on my facebook but only a few on Messenger.
Facebook is meant to be a social place so why not say a quick hello with an old school friend without the hassle of installing the relevant IM client or adding them as a permanent IM contact. I have also had problems getting friends and family to use an IM client but they all seem to love facebook.
Facebook has great ideas. I'm sure the various privacy options will come as well as being able to turn it off altogether. I'm pleased to see that it converts various smilies into emoticons! ;-)
I've been using this for weeks now
It's been out in beta for select schools for a while. It's pretty damn intuitive and works with the site very well.
-Spenser
When I first read this article and didn't use it, I thought it was a stand-alone kind of IM (like MSN, etc), but now I know it's just one that runs inside the site. Quite handy, so if you want to message someone online they get it right away
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