Facebook integrates Skype-powered video calling

Friday, 08 July 2011 09:23 Maui A. Hermitanio

The 'awesome feature' that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg briefly hinted about last week is actually the Skype-powered video chat integration on the social networking site Facebook. Zuckerberg officially unveiled the video chat feature Wednesday.

According to Zuckerberg, the service is an easy-to-use extension of the Facebook platform. “The user receives a chat request from a friend, the user downloads a simple plug-in and the two start talking face-to-face.”

The browser-based video calling is integrated directly into Facebook – no new accounts, no new passwords required.

Zuckerberg declared that with 750 million members, Facebook is now one of, if not the biggest chat network in the world.

The feature was developed by Facebook's 40-man team in Seattle together with Skype. But before the official announcement at Facebook's Palo Alto headquarters, Skype confirmed the feature through a preemptive tweet.

The Skype-powered chat on Facebook is capable of group and video chat. The new chat design includes a sidebar that lists the people you message most making it easier to find your friends and start a conversation.

To get on Facebook video chat, navigate to facebook.com/videocalling. On Facebook.com, initiate a first call by opening a chat with an active, webcam-equipped friend and click the video camera icon to start a video call. Create a group chat instantly to “Add Friends to Chat.” To start a video chat, just click the video call button at the top of the chat window.

The new product will roll out to millions of users around the world in the coming weeks. The joint feature could be a huge boost for Skype, which currently has about 145 million regular users.

Gartner analyst Ray Valdes said by incorporating free video chat directly into its service, Facebook will give its members another reason to use the site more often and for longer periods of time. "They need to continue to keep their users engaged and coming back everyday."

Skype chief executive Tony Bates said the deal with Facebook is only the start of a potentially lucrative partnership. "For us, this makes a lot of business sense," Bates said. "We get huge reach. In the future we're talking about potentially also having Skype paid products available within the web format we saw here today."

Microsoft Corp., a long- time Facebook partner, is acquiring Skype in an USD8.5 billion deal expected to close later this year.

Ovum senior analyst Craig Skinner downplayed suggestions that Facebook's video feature is in response to Google's new social networking website, Google + that includes Google’s maps and images, messages, comments and other content from selected groups of friends, as well as a video chat feature.

"This is unlikely to be a direct reaction to the recently announced Google+, as this level of integration of Skype software within the Facebook Web site would have been a project lasting many months," he told ZDNetAsia.

Facebook is also forging ties with other media and technology companies like Netflix Inc and Warner Bros.

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