Facebooks Amazing Announcement
After much anticipation, a flurry of media attention, and sorted speculation, Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced that Facebook has entered what he refers to as ‘Launching Season 2011’ and promises that they have many items they will be rolling out over the course of the next few weeks and months, including Live Video Chat, the new app which will be made available to users starting today.
Not truly all that ‘amazing’ as far as I am concerned considering I have had my Skype account for a few years now and having recently seen the Group Video option in Google+ earlier this week. But, for FB users, this is a great addition to their social interaction online.
Initially starting with some background on trends in social, and noting that “Social Networking is at an inflection right now”, Zuckerberg notes that the chapter of social being questioned as a fad is over and the world now feels confident that people want to remain connected socially in this way. The coming years then, in turn, will be more about customizing apps to fit social and accommodate those who are already ‘wired in’ and actively measuring the value of what people are getting from social interaction in general.
Mark spent some time reminding us of the impact Facebook has had on social and the improvement to all of our lives online with the rollout of various methods for sharing information online before making the formal announcements as follows:
Group Chat Outside of Groups
This allows users to set up group chats “on the fly” without having to first set up a formal group. This makes the group interaction much easier to integrate in our daily lives by having it available on a moments notice. This will be a great tool for friends to network, as Zuckerberg lays out in his demonstration of setting up a quick movie date with friends, however, I see this also becoming a powerful tool for businesses and entrepreneurs who will want to collaborate quickly and easily online.
New Chat Design
The new chat design didn’t seem too awfully revolutionary, but it does seem to make the process somewhat easier by allowing users to locate their friends quicker through a more prominent chat interface. You will be able to see and include all friends in group chats, even those offline. The offline friends will receive a sort of transcript of the group chat when they sign in.
One Click Video Chat
Although I have mentioned that I wasn’t impressed with Video Chat in general, I do think this will be of great appeal within the Facebook community itself. The ease of use will make it especially appealing for those who may be a bit ‘tech challenged’; a big plus for casual social environments.
One click will allow you to easily ring up you best bud and begin a quick face to face. And don’t worry; it is just as easy to decline the call if you are just stepping out of the shower!
My only concern here is that although this Video Chat will roll out as a ‘free to use’ app, Skype’s involvement almost solidifies the fact that it won’t remain that way indefinitely; especially when you consider the number of users who may forego their direct Skype account and simply use the FB version since they are already there.
Overall the announcement was a good one for Facebook and I do look forward to what they will offer in the future. They are fast becoming an internet within the internet itself. We’ll watch and see.
I’m still not dismissing the role Google+ has in the whole thing. Hopefully, they don’t make the same mistakes they made with the Wave and get it out of Beta quickly so I can actually find people I want to talk to in my stream.
