Earlier today Facebook held a press conference to talk about new privacy controls and to confirm that they are launching a web chat product in the coming weeks. Our real time notes from the event are here.
The video above is a demo Facebook Chat that was shown at the event. The presenter is Peter Deng, the product manager for Facebook Chat, who made it clear that this is a preliminary version of the product. It may change significantly prior to launch, he said.
See all
Post
Nice, but still think FB is flattening out, at least in the US.
this is going to severely impact their page views.
Yes, this will Severely impact their page views and the amount of possible monetization — They will just make more money — Facebook may flatten out but I don’t believe so just yet. Great move, Facebook, I just hope the users follow in line
Facebook chat looks pretty nice, but I think I’ll stick with AIM and Google Talk.
Does this chat app integrate with other chat applications such as MSN and YIM?
Is it just me or does it look like a Google Chat @ Gmail clone?
What I find interesting about this is that chat is considered to be something new. You know we’ve had online chat for the masses since like 1998 right? And for smart people since about 1990.
What will FB think of next. This is outstanding innovation! A system where people can type short messages to each other without email. Damn!
well it’s nothing new indeed, but a nice addition to Facebook if you like to use it often. I’ll certainly give it a go when it’s available.
I only use FB to look up old chicks to see if they are hot or not…it’s not as if I want to actually talk to them.
Wow @ the video.
Man, Facebook should just buy Meebo. That would be great.
@7
Exactly…
Do they think that they find the new super duper technology?
Michael,
Get off your fascination with facebook … its a dull and boring site with minimal technology.
Each time they add a comma or a period to your page we get like 3 days of non-stop posts from techcrunch … a little online chat!!! Wow, what an amazing invention!!! it’s only been around on thousands of sites for like 10+ years!
Chat on Facebook would mean a helpful widget for some and an intrusion in privacy for many. I know many people who’ve already blocked me from their IM list. Now I can even see whether they’re online on FaceBook or not. Cool!
the implementation — laid out horizontally at the bottom of the screen — seems very similar to the windows tool bar.
This is the first thing you would expect them to do.
But then again, what happens if all the Chat systems COPY facebook. Something I have always wondered (Why they have not)
The next move to me is to make facebook into an APPLICATION, not a web page. AIR would be fine. Keeps a icon in your tray at all times. Keeps your FB-IM going, is not effected by browser issues.
James
It is a shame that they are not releasing this as a Jabber-compliant service. We have already had users contact us asking for integration. I think the biggest flaw with this product is that I need to be on the Facebook website to chat with my friends. As soon as the website closes so does the utility. The killer feature of IM is not chat - it is presence and the fact that people leave IM clients running 24 hours a day with status messages up at all times. If Facebook wants to push this product and compete with the traditional IM networks they need to make it Jabber complaint or release documentation of the protocol to allow multi-protocol clients to implement support.
Steve Shapiro
http://www.digsby.com
youtube vid no am exclusive!
So, can we expect ads inserted into your IMs now?
Are they going to track who I chat with and then use algorithms to find people with similar personalities (deduced from their facebook profiles of course) and then pair me up with those people in chat rooms? Facebook can knock out GoogleTalk & Match.com all at once. One step closer to their $15bn valuation…
A lack of innovation. A clean UI. Pop-ups and added toolbars. For what it provides, it seems like an awful lot of required tasking. It will probably do quite well because of those reasons.
MIK, I don’t get Facebook either: http://lowtechtimes.com/2008/0.....necessary/
this feature is so 98
folks want live audio chat
not text chat that been around for ages
yahoo as bad as they may be got the right idea with live audio chat
hmmmm, no thanks.
I would rather use GOOG Talk any day of the week.
Where’s the innovation? Why would I use Facebook over Google? Can some one answer that question?
Exclusive? me thinks not!
video no longer available…
yawn… I wish they put just as much effort into better managing those stupid application requests.
What is next in the IM- Live video and VOIP.Geeez. all that I see is that my LCD monitor has just gotten so much busier and given me more things to do.
As FB adds new features (internal email, Pages for companies, now chat) I feel like it’s slowly but surely starting to resemble a closed AOL-type system, which users love at first for the seamless integration but flee en masse once something more exciting comes out that’s not available in the system.
Great Move.. hope it’s useable and stable.. more features.
This is great.
Yes, chat rooms have been available for years… but not friends exclusively. Yes, you can add your friends to MSN or AIM, but you need their email address. To be friends on FB all you need is their name. There are a lot of people that I will talk to once this comes out that I may not have before.
And no, team ray, kids don’t want audio chat. “Folks” - like you put it - might. But that’s not FB’s audience. Kids that use it like to be able to communicate with several people at one time. These are the same kids that send 100 text messages a day, and only actually talk to a few people per day.
All u haters are rediculously ignorant. The amazing thing about this add on is not the fact that its new (because its not) or that its so much different then every other messenger (cuz its not) but rather becauase millions of people log on to facebook every day, and now instead of having to use another program to message people u can just use facebook, the tool that connects you to anyone and everyone you have met. this will bring chatting to the ultimate masses without requiring stupid screen names and passwords and all that bullshit, this is a great thing that is happening so just accept it. all u faggots hating out there are just like the people who say jabber and msn messenger are better than AIM. HAHAHAHA yeahhhh rite thats the biggest bullshit ive ever heard. this is my point, this is why this will be a great success, and the haters, u all suck and will join eventually anyway
yeah, what bradley said, hes rite on the money as well
and alex WHO THE FUCK USES GOOG TALK? ARE U KIDDING?
The addition of Facebook Chat is going to be a big thing, that a lot of people (old and young) will use. Current chat applications are obviously “better,” but they don’t come with a built-in network of 1000’s of your friends.
For example, any time I find out a friend has AIM, I literally have to write down or remember their screen name. Now I can just log on to their Facebook profile and say hi.
Google Talk is great, but plenty of my tech-savvy friends still use email clients besides Gmail. Facebook is pretty universal (and most people have it even if they also have MySpace, whereas most people don’t use, say, Yahoo Mail AND Gmail).