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Filed under: Internet, Web

Meebo adds Facebook, MySpace IM to its web-based chat service

http://www.meebo.com/
Meebo is a web-based chat client that lets you keep up with your AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, and Windows Live Messenger contacts. Now Meebo has rolled out support for two more chat clients: Facebook and MySpace.

The move makes sense, since Meebo's goal is to allow you to chat with all of your contacts in one space. But you still need to have a web browser open to use Meebo, which is why I generally prefer standalone clients like Digsby. If your browser crashes, your Digsby contact list doesn't disappear.

That said, Meebo does provide a way to chat with contacts using 9 different IM clients now, and you can do it all from a single web page. So you don't need to leave Facebook, Gmail, or MySpace open all day if all you care about is the chat features. And more importantly, since Meebo is web-based, you can use the service from any computer without stopping to install software. That makes it useful if you're visiting a friend or family member and want to pop online for a bit, or if you're using a public computer at a library or internet cafe.

[via CNET

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Browser Tips, Social Software, web 2.0

Add Facebook Chat to your Firefox sidebar

Facebook chat sidebar
Facebook has finally rolled out its new chat feature to all users. That means you can chat with anyone on your Facebook contact list if the two of you are logged into the Facebook web page at the same time. But what if you like the idea of chatting with your Facebook friends, but hate the idea of keeping Facebook open in a browser tab all day?

Mozilla Links discovered a nifty trick for adding Facebook chat to your browser sidebar in Firefox. All you have to do is click on your bookmark toolbar and create a new bookmark. Give it whatever name you like, and enter this for the URL:

http://www.facebook.com/presence/popout.php

Make sure to select the button that says "Load this bookmark in the sidebar" and you should be all set.

Note that you can drag the sidebar divider to make the Facebook Chat window larger or smaller. If all you want to do is see your contact list, the sidebar doesn't take up much space as all. But if you want to actually open a chat window with one or more of your contacts, you'll need to widen the sidebar a bit, which will cost you some valuable web browser real estate.

Facebook Chat isn't the only instant messenger you can open in a Firefox sidebar. You can also create bookmarks for Google Talk and Meebo.

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Facebook Chat goes live -- for some users

Facebook ChatAs expected, Facebook is beginning to roll out a chat feature. This weekend some users noticed the chat functionality showing up on their Facebook pages. But this appears to be a phased rollout, as many users still don't have the ability to chat with their Facebook contacts in real time. You know, unless they use a third party service like Social.im or Babuki.

The Facebook chat service appears to be nicely integrated with the site. Users will notice some chat controls at the bottom of their Facebook page letting them know how many users are online. You can pull up a list of your friends and send them messages from any page on the site. If you accidentally close a window, Facebook will keep track of your history and show older messages when you launch a new chat with the same contact. But if you close the page entirely, you're out of luck since there does not appear to be a way to save your entire chat history.

Honestly, we're more impressed with third party services like Social.im and Babuki which use Facebook's API to provide a standalone chat client that can be used without keeping Facebook's web page open in a browser all day. But we get the feeling that plenty of folks will use the official Facebook chat client simply because it's there and easy to use.

[via Inside Facebook]

Filed under: Internet, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Facebook chat coming soon, privacy controls launch today


Facebook is adding new privacy controls today which will give you more control over your interactions with people in your friend lists. For example, you can share photo albums or applications with your professional contacts while hiding away the good stuff for closer friends.

The company also confirmed plans to launch a web-based instant messenger service that will let you communicate with other Facebook members in real-time. TechCrunch has the video you can see above showing how Facebook Chat could work. But the application is still in development and there could be some changes before it's officially launched in a few weeks.

As IM clients go, Facebook Chat doesn't look that impressive. You'll only be able to communicate with other Facebook users, not AIM, MSN, and Yahoo! Messenger users. But Jabber support could be added in the future, which would let you access Facebook Chat with third party software like Trillian, Pidgin, or Adium.

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