Social MediaNetwork Facebook and Internet voice service Skype are playing the role of Santa Claus for friends across the world, spreading cheer and goodwill. To bring friends close, Facebook and Skype have come closer.
Cnet News states, “Windows users who download the new Skype 5.5 Beta version will now be able to instant message with Facebook friends. According to the VoIP provider, the beta’s users can also “like” and comment on a friend’s Facebook status. A new Facebook Contacts tab has been added to Skype to help users more easily find and communicate with their friends on the social network.”
The Skype blog says, “We’ve integrated the Facebook News Feed and Phonebook into Skype, making it easier to stay connected with the people and communities you care about. We’ve revitalised the look and feel, making voice and video calling, instant messaging, screen sharing and file sharing intuitive and easy to navigate. And you can now bring even more of your family and friends together with the new group video calling feature available in open beta.”
For ease of understanding the blog reiterates:
“With Facebook integration, you can:
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see your Facebook News Feed in Skype
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post status updates that can be synced with your Skype mood message
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comment and like friends’ updates and wall posts
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call and SMS your Facebook friends on their mobile phones and landlines
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make a free Skype-to-Skype call if your Facebook friend is also a Skype contact.”
(Image credit : Allfacebook.com)
Commenting on this development TechExa says, “Skype‘s beta 5.5 of its desktop software for Microsoft Windows adds even more Facebook extras to its already deep integration with the social network. Previously, Skype for Windows users could view their Facebook news feeds from within the application and place Skype calls or send SMS messages to their Facebook friends, if friends included their phone number in their Facebook profile.”
And of course, this integration spells benefits for both the partners. The Gigaom blog lists the advantages, “First, Facebook continues to become the de facto contact database for many. Smartphones of various platforms already pull in and sync Facebook contacts directly into the handset’s contact application. And why not, when it resolves the challenge of keeping your contacts updated? Put another way: Why should I spend time managing my contacts’ ever-changing information when it’s likely they are already doing so and I can have the information pulled down automatically?”
“ Secondly, the addition of Facebook interaction with a Skype client opens up Facebook to a wider audience at a time when its growth may have stalled. Skype says that in the fourth quarter of 2010, it averaged more than 145 million connected users per month. That’s smaller than the 600 million active Facebook accounts, but surely not all Facebook users are also Skype users. The Skype user base is also very active, using the service for 207 billion voice and video calling minutes last year. The new integration in Skype could help Facebook add to its subscriber base even as some data this month shows the service may have lost subscribers in the U.S.”
Earlier this year, reports surfaced that Facebook was considering acquiring Skype. However, in a short while, Microsoft announced its plans to acquire Skype for $8.5 billion. Gigaom believes that Facebook does not seem to have lost on that count. It states, “Facebook appears set to leverage Skype regardless of that deal and it doesn’t have to spend billions to do so.”
Kevin C. Tofel of Gigaom believes that this heralds the beginning of a whole new relationship between Facebook and Skype as he opines, “The integration with Skype on the desktop is likely just a start: Between Facebook phones and smartphones that have Skype support, I think this will have even more impact when Skype adds Facebook integration on handsets in the future.”
You can download Skype 5.5, Beta for windows here.