IT Resource

As promised some time back, social networking website Facebook is ready to offer its members an Instant Messaging system that’s simply known ‘Chat’. Now launched and awaiting use and evolution, Chat adds a bar at the bottom of the page (visible on all Facebook pages) that offers access to the IM-related ‘things’ – chat windows, online friends list, notifications, chat settings and online status.

At first glance Chat seems to feature the basics needed for easy communication but it is set to get updated bit by bit in the future. Overall, Facebook’s Justin Smith says it best – “Facebook Chat is a very compelling experience that will spell trouble for legacy IM networks that haven’t built vibrant social networks around their friend lists (i.e. AIM). By making Facebook more real time/presence oriented, Facebook session length should go up a lot. Facebook will become an important player in IM very soon.”