Hello 2.02ers,

In what seems to be another way for Social networking giant Facebook to keep ahead of the trends, Facebook has rolled out the brand spanking new chat toolbar.

Everyone knows that 'The Wall' and 'Inbox' have been the primary ways to communicate - but what happens when you're making plans for lunch for example, or you need the answer to question 2(a) on that Physics exam that you just happen to be taking online! Facebook Chat of course.

So how does Facebook chat work?

The premise is simple, when you log in next to your Facebook account, you should notice the new Chat bar at the bottom of your browser - 'no installation or assembly required'. It is from this very slick, a-la-Facebook style bar that you can view your list of online friends and open conversations with them.

Unlike the Wall or Inbox, the messages are delivered and displayed to your friend as soon as they're sent - meaning a real-time chat experience.

The cool thing about Facebook Chat is basically what has gotten Facebook as an online giant to where it is today - usability. It acts like a real chat application should! You can close chat windows, hide chat windows, go offline so your boss doesn't see you and change application settings.

The screen shot below shows that I'm online (green circle on the far right next to my profile silhouette), I have six friends online and one of my friends, whom I was chatting to has now gone offline. The traffic-light colour system can't go wrong!

Another cool little feature is that your notifications now arrive in the Chat bar, and while chatting you'll see your friend's Mini-Feed activity thrown into the conversation - as it happens in real-time! Cool ayh?

Facebook, having dealt with many issues on privacy in the past - Beacon, anyone? says that conversations on Facebook Chat are completely secure and private; and whilst Facebook tracks chat messages across sessions and pages, apparently they don't log any chats on their servers.

Somethings that I really liked included the title of the page changing to say 'New message from Friend' when you receive a message, as well as the bar slightly 'nudging' whenever you receive a new message (although I think this is still a little buggy on Firefox 2)

I guess we'll have to wait and see what else comes off this technology - but one thing's for certain; Facebook know how to do those little things that keep making their offering special. It certainly keeps people coming back to see what's new.

Based on the quick ten minute session I had to play around with it - one thing was certain: It's nothing special in the world of online chat, which has now been around for at east ten years. However, one thing it is - is usable, smart and a perfect extension to the overall look and feel which Facebook is trying to master.

Till next time,

Cheb.

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Tags: Design Review, Facebook, Web 2.0