Group and Mobile Movie Talk, Telephone Calling Likely Coming to Facebook
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By Mark Sullivan
PCWorld | Jul 6, two thousand eleven Two:16 PM PT
Facebook announced a fresh Skype-powered video-chat service and a group text-chat feature today, in a clear response to similar features included in the Google+ social networking service launched last week. The video-chat feature received most of the attention here today.
I got a quick up-close demo from Skype’s product manager for the Facebook video-chat client, Mike Barnes, who cleared up a few early questions for me. I also chatted with Skype business manager Scott Miller and Facebook video-chat lead engineer Phillip Su.
PCWorld: Does the fresh video-chat service work on Macs?
Barnes: Yes, it works on all browsers except Opera.
PCW: How can I access the video-calling service in Facebook?
Mike Barnes, Skype product manager for the Facebook video-chat client. Photo: Megan Geuss, PCWorld Barnes: You can call people using a video-call button on your friend’s page. Or you can initiate a movie call from within the Facebook Talk client.
PCW: Can I do an audio-only talk?
Barnes: Yes, but you have to disable your camera in the hardware setting in your computer. Skype has traditionally done voice calling very first, and then movie. But Facebook wished the switch roles: They dreamed to concentrate on movie, and have that come on automatically with the voice.
PCW: What if someone attempts to video-chat with me, but I don’t feel like talking?
Barnes: The very first time a friend calls you, a window pops up asking you if you want to commence the movie call. But at all times after that, the talk commences automatically. So if you don’t want to video-chat, you can become invisible by tweaking your setting within the talk client in the same way you become invisible for text talk.
PCW: As far I can tell, you can’t say you’re available to talk with one person and not another.
PCW: So can I begin using the fresh feature today?
Barnes: The video-chat feature will roll out to all seven hundred fifty million Facebook users in the next seven to ten days, reaching ten percent of the user base by this Friday.
PCW: How does the install process work exactly?
Barnes: You go to facebook.com/videocalling and download a puny add-on program. If you don’t have the add-on installed yet, and someone video-calls you, a window pops up asking you if you want to install the add-on program. After you click ‘yes’, the call automatically sets up with your friend.
[Note: Facebook video-chat lead engineer Phillip Su explains that if the service has not yet flipped out to you, and someone who has movie talk installed calls you, at that point you are then permitted to download the add-on and embark using movie talk. Facebook does this because it wants the service to work no matter who the user attempts to call. Also, after someone gets a movie call and then is permitted to download the add-on, they’re naturally going to want to keep using the service themselves, so it makes sense that they would be permitted to enable the service, Su says.]
PCW: Why can’t I do group movie calls from the Facebook service?
Barnes: Obviously, with the Google+ announcement last week, we are thinking about matching that suggesting. We have already built the group movie talk functionality as a premium service on the Skype desktop client. And because Skype is a modular system, it would not be difficult to add the functionality. Because the technology has already been built, it would not take much work at all to add it to the Facebook product.
In Movie: Here’s How to Get Commenced on Facebook Movie Talk
Mobile-Chat Possibilities
Barnes adds that another module that is ready to add to Facebook movie talk is the capability to do movie talks with mobile devices. Barnes gave me the distinct impression that Facebook will soon be adding both group movie talk and mobile movie talk in the near future. Even however those features are not ready to launch presently, Facebook needed to announce the core part of the service now, as a way of answering the Google+ announcement of last week and to take the media spotlight off of Google’s social networking.
Phillip Su, Facebook video-chat lead engineer. Photo: Megan Geuss, PCWorld I asked Facebook’s Su if group and mobile talk are coming to Facebook soon. He said the same thing the Skype people said: that it would be relatively effortless to do from a technological point of view. Su notes, however, that Facebook has not been working on those features yet. Su says he and his team have not been designing their product to match the features in the Google+ Hangout video-chat service, but rather to make the one-to-one talk service enormously effortless to use for the non-tech-savvy.
PCW: Will I be able to make calls to cell phones and home phones from Facebook using Skype?
Scott Miller, Skype director of global business development. Photo: Megan Geuss, PCWorld Scott Miller (Skype director of global business development): Yes, we will soon be adding the capability to make calls via the PSTN (public switched telephone network) from Facebook in the near future.
PCW: Aren’t you worried that Skype users will leave their desktop clients and embark doing all their movie talking and voice calling from Facebook?
Miller: Skype presently has one hundred seventy million users, and Facebook has seven hundred fifty million users. So obviously it was in our interest to get as many Facebook users using our platform as possible. Whether they use our platform using the desktop client or on Facebook, it’s a good thing for us because we are expanding the reach of our service.
Group and Mobile Movie Talk, Telephone Calling Likely Coming to Facebook, PCWorld
Group and Mobile Movie Talk, Telephone Calling Likely Coming to Facebook
Your message has been sent.
There was an error emailing this page.
By Mark Sullivan
PCWorld | Jul 6, two thousand eleven Two:16 PM PT
Facebook announced a fresh Skype-powered video-chat service and a group text-chat feature today, in a clear response to similar features included in the Google+ social networking service launched last week. The video-chat feature received most of the attention here today.
I got a quick up-close demo from Skype’s product manager for the Facebook video-chat client, Mike Barnes, who cleared up a few early questions for me. I also chatted with Skype business manager Scott Miller and Facebook video-chat lead engineer Phillip Su.
PCWorld: Does the fresh video-chat service work on Macs?
Barnes: Yes, it works on all browsers except Opera.
PCW: How can I access the video-calling service in Facebook?
Mike Barnes, Skype product manager for the Facebook video-chat client. Photo: Megan Geuss, PCWorld Barnes: You can call people using a video-call button on your friend’s page. Or you can initiate a movie call from within the Facebook Talk client.
PCW: Can I do an audio-only talk?
Barnes: Yes, but you have to disable your camera in the hardware setting in your computer. Skype has traditionally done voice calling very first, and then movie. But Facebook desired the switch sides: They wished to concentrate on movie, and have that come on automatically with the voice.
PCW: What if someone attempts to video-chat with me, but I don’t feel like talking?
Barnes: The very first time a friend calls you, a window pops up asking you if you want to commence the movie call. But at all times after that, the talk starts automatically. So if you don’t want to video-chat, you can become invisible by tweaking your setting within the talk client in the same way you become invisible for text talk.
PCW: As far I can tell, you can’t say you’re available to talk with one person and not another.
PCW: So can I begin using the fresh feature today?
Barnes: The video-chat feature will roll out to all seven hundred fifty million Facebook users in the next seven to ten days, reaching ten percent of the user base by this Friday.
PCW: How does the install process work exactly?
Barnes: You go to facebook.com/videocalling and download a petite add-on program. If you don’t have the add-on installed yet, and someone video-calls you, a window pops up asking you if you want to install the add-on program. After you click ‘yes’, the call automatically sets up with your friend.
[Note: Facebook video-chat lead engineer Phillip Su explains that if the service has not yet spinned out to you, and someone who has movie talk installed calls you, at that point you are then permitted to download the add-on and begin using movie talk. Facebook does this because it wants the service to work no matter who the user attempts to call. Also, after someone gets a movie call and then is permitted to download the add-on, they’re naturally going to want to keep using the service themselves, so it makes sense that they would be permitted to enable the service, Su says.]
PCW: Why can’t I do group movie calls from the Facebook service?
Barnes: Obviously, with the Google+ announcement last week, we are thinking about matching that suggesting. We have already built the group movie talk functionality as a premium service on the Skype desktop client. And because Skype is a modular system, it would not be difficult to add the functionality. Because the technology has already been built, it would not take much work at all to add it to the Facebook product.
In Movie: Here’s How to Get Commenced on Facebook Movie Talk
Mobile-Chat Possibilities
Barnes adds that another module that is ready to add to Facebook movie talk is the capability to do movie talks with mobile devices. Barnes gave me the distinct impression that Facebook will soon be adding both group movie talk and mobile movie talk in the near future. Even tho’ those features are not ready to launch presently, Facebook needed to announce the core part of the service now, as a way of answering the Google+ announcement of last week and to take the media spotlight off of Google’s social networking.
Phillip Su, Facebook video-chat lead engineer. Photo: Megan Geuss, PCWorld I asked Facebook’s Su if group and mobile talk are coming to Facebook soon. He said the same thing the Skype people said: that it would be relatively effortless to do from a technological point of view. Su notes, however, that Facebook has not been working on those features yet. Su says he and his team have not been designing their product to match the features in the Google+ Hangout video-chat service, but rather to make the one-to-one talk service utterly effortless to use for the non-tech-savvy.
PCW: Will I be able to make calls to cell phones and home phones from Facebook using Skype?
Scott Miller, Skype director of global business development. Photo: Megan Geuss, PCWorld Scott Miller (Skype director of global business development): Yes, we will soon be adding the capability to make calls via the PSTN (public switched telephone network) from Facebook in the near future.
PCW: Aren’t you worried that Skype users will leave their desktop clients and commence doing all their movie talking and voice calling from Facebook?
Miller: Skype presently has one hundred seventy million users, and Facebook has seven hundred fifty million users. So obviously it was in our interest to get as many Facebook users using our platform as possible. Whether they use our platform using the desktop client or on Facebook, it’s a good thing for us because we are expanding the reach of our service.