San Francisco — Status updates and pokes not cutting it anymore? Need another reason to spend more time on Facebook? If so, then get ready to don your headsets, because soon you will be engaged in voice conversations with your Facebook friends, talk trash with gaming opponents, or even chat with customer service reps on the popular social networking site.
Facebook, the most popular social networking site, which now records more than 250 million users, has announced that it will soon be launching a new “voice chat” capability powered by Vivox’s VoIP technology.
Vivox, a Boston-based software developer of voice chat for games and virtual worlds like Second Life, is beta-testing a plug-in that would enable users to add a “voice channel” to their Facebook page. “It is a simple browser plug-in. You can invite as many friends as you want to the channel,” says company spokeswoman Karen Blondell.
This suggests that all Facebook users will soon be able to make a live one-on-one conversations with others on their “friend’s list” — providing, of course, that the “dialed” party is available to take a call. That should not be too difficult to guess, however, as each user’s availability status, or “presence,” will be known by way of their Facebook page.
The free plug-in should be available in about three to four weeks, although the current beta test is closed to the general public, the company says.
This is not a no-frills, one-to-one chat app, either. “As big as your group is, you can hold conference calls, podcasts. You can have two people in a channel, or several,” Blondell says.
Boston-based Vivox, which specializes in delivering voice to online gaming, already provides integrated voice service for virtual worlds like Second Life and EVE Online and boasts 15 million users. In addition to the Facebook voice chat service, the company is reportedly making its technology available to any third-party Facebook application developer, meaning that almost any app, from games to utilities, can have a voice component.
Users will also be able to communicate with people who do not use Facebook. Vivox will provide a phone number for non-users to call in and join the conversation. So far it is not clear, however, if Vivox will charge for this dial-in feature.
The new Vivox voice chat system for Facebook will allow any user to start a conversation with anyone on their friends list. (Credit: Vivox)
Perhaps more importantly, according to Vivox co-founder Monty Sharma, the company is making its technology available to any third-party Facebook application developer, meaning that almost any app, from games to utilities, can have a voice component.
For now, it is not clear how many of Facebook’s users will choose to adopt Vivox’s technology, and for the time being, at least, Facebook is not involved in any way in promoting the new service.
However, one person who may be an early adopter is Charlene Li, a well-known social media consultant, and the co-author of the book Groundswell.
“I would (use voice service on Facebook),” Li said, “because I see it as a continuum of communications with the people I want to stay in touch with.”
The plug-in is for audio chat only, not video. While video could be added further down the line, “it is not the focus right now,” Blondell says.