Facebook Dials Up Skype for Video, Group Chat Features
Even businesses that have stayed away from Facebook, or at least limited the use of the social networking service in the office, might be ready to do an about-Facebook. This week the company held a “something awesome” event, which promised to introduce something that would live up to the name.
It turns out it was pretty awesome, indeed. Facebook is introducing video calling via Skype, the Internet phone service that Microsoft recently purchased. It is worth noting that Facebook had been a serious suitor for the VoIP service, which allows free calls between Skype users. So this makes for an interesting turn of events.
Skype CEO Tony Bates, who was on hand at the Facebook event, said that the partnership has been in the works for about six months. He further implied that he wasn’t concerned that this could draw traffic away from Skype’s main service.
What this means is that Facebook users will be able to make free calls while signed into Facebook. On the one hand this could seem like yet another distraction, but for businesses this could make for easier to organize video conferencing and to communicate with workers in remote offices. Adding video to the mix could even allow businesses to conduct more personalized meetings with customers and clients.
This isn’t the only new improvement that could turn Facebook into a more work-friendly tool. The company is adding group voice chat along with an improved chat interface. The updated chat window will reportedly have the look of a buddy list, with a sidebar to display your most frequently-used contacts.
This isn’t all that revolutionary, and there are plenty of services for group IM. What makes Facebook's use of Skype stand out is that users can access it from anywhere and won't need any special software -- they simply need to log into Facebook.
Facebook is also not alone in adding this new functionality. If everything sounds familiar, it is probably because a lot of this mirrors similar functionality that Google announced last week. Facebook, of course, gets the upper hand because of its partnership with Skype. And this could signal a new level of partnership with Microsoft, which owns a small stake in Facebook already and agreed to buy Skype for $8.5 billion.
But Google could actually get the last laugh, as its "Hangouts" feature will include a group video chat option, something that could really be useful for remote-office video conferencing. Google will also allow groups to watch videos – such as those on YouTube – together. (Actually, that’s probably something most office managers will be glad not to see coming to Facebook.)
With Google going for social networking and Facebook firing back with Skype integration, it seems that these services will continue to add new features -- and the winners will be small businesses looking to stay connected. Most of these tools are already familiar to small businesses. The difference is that Google, and more importantly Facebook, are making them that much easier to use. This is really the big key to this story. Video chat and group chat aren’t new by any means, but Facebook and Google will make them far more user-friendly and accessible.
The big issue for small businesses is making sure these are used as tools that increase productivity, enhance office communication, and don’t turn into productivity-killing distractions. If your businiess can deal with those challenges, these could be very powerful and effective tools, indeed!
