UK users of Windows Live Messenger (any other countries? let us know) now have a tab allowing them to access updates on Facebook from within Messenger.

Simply open the tab (the one with the "f" icon) [picture link] and click the login button. This lets you login with your Facebook account from where you can add the "Facebook Updates for Messenger" application.

Allowing the app to have access to your information means that it can keep you up-to-date with you and your friends' status updates and photos [picture link]. Allowing "extended access" also lets you do things like change your Facebook status from within Messenger.

Add the Facebook Updates for Messenger app to your Facebook account
Give some suggestions or feedback about the tab

While we're talking about Facebook ...

• Try out Fibby, an add-in for Messenger that sets, and updates, your personal message to be the same as your status on Facebook (thanks to Adam Dempsey for telling us about it).

• Add the official Windows Live Messenger for Facebook application to your profile to view the status of and send IMs to your Facebook friends who also use the app. It also allows visitors to your profile to see your status and send you an IM. It was built using the Messenger Library, Presence API and IM Control and you can see the developers explain more about it in this video.

• Use Invite2Messenger to invite any of your Facebook friends not already on your Windows Live contact list to Messenger.

• ... Or just become a fan of Windows Live Messenger.

As some of you may or may not know, Facebook has rolled out a chat application on their website. It can be seen at the bottom right of any Facebook page, and it can be used to communicate with others. It's much like a messenger, in that it provides near instant messages, however, until recent news, it was just another browser based ajax cool thing.

However, this is soon to change. Facebook want to gain even more popularity by stepping it up a notch: jabber. One of the Facebook developers, David Reiss, posted Tuesday about a future addition to the Facebook chat.


Currently, jabber is quite accessible, even if not quite popular. Most people don't know, though, that Google Talk is based on the jabber protocol.

So what does this mean? This means that Facebook chat will be usable with many clients. A list of possible clients can be seen here. So is Facebook finally hitting a new market and making major competition to the already popular Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger and Google Talk? Only time will tell.

Facebook.com
David Reiss' article