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Facebook, meet Skype. And Skype, you should probably
meet Facebook. The two met in a major way today during a Facebook
"Something Awesome" press event, where a grand total of three new
Facebook features were introduced. One of those was a revamped design
for chatting. Evidently, a good many of the 750 million Facebook users
enjoy the chat function, and it was revamped today to scale properly and
take better advantage of wider browsers.
The next is a revamped group chat feature; Facebook's making it even
easier to initiate group chat sessions, and they said that around half
of the users participate in one way or another. But those are just the
appetizers. The real news came with a partnership with Skype, which now
ties Skype into Facebook's web design in a huge way. Video calling is
now a one-click process for Facebook members, and those familiar with
Skype (and used to see their friends around) will no doubt enjoy the new
feature.
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Furthermore, those who would rather use a standalone application can
download the v5.5 Beta for Windows in order to see their Facebook
contacts from there. Mac and Linux users have to wait, and there's no
word on when these new features will spread to the mobile side. It's
pretty clear, however, that Skype and Facebook are in this for the long
haul, and now we just have to wonder if this will affect how Facebook
and Windows 8 are integrated. Will the initial bootup screen ask you to
sign into Facebook? It's a social world, after all...
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