- What It's All About
- Video Chatting in Facebook
- Integrating Facebook with Skype
Integrating Facebook with Skype
The same week Facebook announced its Skype-powered video chat, Skype announced a handful of useful Facebook integration features into the latest Windows version of its client software.
Once you've upgraded to Skype for Windows version 5.5 (currently in beta testing; you can download from http://www.skype.com/get-skype/on-your-computer/windows/beta/), you'll be prompted to connect your Facebook and Skype accounts. You'll need to do this to take advantage of all the new features.
Once you're connected, you'll find that all your Facebook contacts are now Skype contacts. There's a new Facebook tab in the Contacts sidebar; click this tab to view a list of all your Facebook friends. (Your normal Skype contacts still appear on the Contacts tab next to the Facebook tab.)
Click a friend's name to view that person's contact info in the big pane on the right. From here, you can initiate an audio (but surprisingly not a video) call by clicking the Call Phone button. You can also start a text chat with this person simply by typing some text into the text box at the bottom of the big pane. Your ongoing chat appears in the main section of this pane.
Close the pane for the current friend or contact to view Skype's normal set of tabs. Here you'll find another Facebook tab; click this tab to view the contents of your Facebook newsfeed, arranged in multiple columns. You have the option of displaying all status updates or only those from your Skype contacts who are also Facebook friends.
Figure 6 Your Facebook newsfeed on Skype
You can also post new Facebook status updates from Skype's Facebook tab. Just enter your update into the box at the top of the page and press Enter. It's just like being on Facebook, except you're still on Skype, which means you can effectively use Skype for almost all your online communications, including those with Facebook friends.