Facebook and Skype have inked a deal to put you in a virtual face-to-face conversation.
After Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said last week his company was planning to launch "something awesome," the social-networking giant and Internet phone giant announced that video chatting had been built into Facebook's chat platform. Users need only click the video call button at the top of their chat window in order to start communicating over video--once the call recipient accepts the video request. Facebook also showed off a new group-chat feature, allowing users to have a conversation with multiple people at the same time.
As Google grows ever more powerful in techdom, and Microsoft's influence slips, the Redmond software giant is building closer and closer ties to Facebook. The Facebook-Skype deal today is more evidence that Microsoft and Facebook are in lockstep as they fight their mutual foe, Google. And it comes even while Microsoft awaits regulatory approval to conclude its Skype acquisition.
How Facebook's event unfolded
Facebook and Google+'s video chat tools compared
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