5+ Ways To Use Facebook Chat Outside of Facebook
Last month, Facebook rolled out Facebook chat to its entire network of users. Now, you can chat with all your Facebook friends without adding yet another Facebook app. However, we all know that next generation apps won't be pushed around by the browser and we don't think that Facebook chat is an exception to this theory. So here are a few ways to use Facebook chat outside of Facebook.
Adium
Adium has recently integrated Facebook chat into the beta version of the IM client. The client allows you to see the default profile image and your friend's Facebook status. Unfortunately, Adium is only for Mac OS X (sorry Windows users).
Gabtastik
Gabtastik is a Site Specific Browser (SSB) for web chat services similar to Mozilla's Prism project. Supported chat services so far are Facebook chat and Google Talk. Gabtaskit is available for both Windows and OS X. However, keep in mind that Gabtastik doesn't bring any new features to Facebook chat. You're still restricted to the minimalistic interface.
Digsby
Digsby is a multi-service instant messsaging client that supports an enormous list of services from the usual suspects like AIM, Yahoo Messenger, and Google Talk, to social networks such as Twitter, Myspace and Facebook. Among the plethora of social networks and IM accounts, you can also manage your email accounts via Digsby. Last month, developers of Digsby became the first to take Facebook chat outside of Facebook. Digsby FTW?
Bonus Ways
Other ways to run Facebook chat outside of the social network's homepage include running Facebook chat in your Firefox sidebar or using the Pidgin IM client Facebook chat plugin. On another note, while you can't run Facebook chat in Windows Live messenger (yet?), you can run Windows Live Messenger in Facebook with the Live Messenger Facebook app.
Check out these great tools and let us know what you're using to get Facebook chat out of the walled garden.
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Me.dium also has a means of chatting with your facebook friends using the me.dium sidebar. http://me.dium.com/
You can also use the awesome application Fluid at www.fluidapp.com :)
Digsby is such a wonderful tool. I realized it today when i installed it on my PC. Its truely the all integration of services. Amazing. Specially those snippets of e-mails and nice links to delete, mark as read etc. The best of all is to e-mail a person from within the chat window...ha...
To Digsby team - Please add other networks like FLickr. Or best is to add feeds from these social websites.
Great work. Thanks RWW.
First question:
Why is Facebook chat necessary? If you want to talk to them, why can't you just use, you know, any one of the PLETHORA of IM services/protocols? AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Jabber/XMPP, ICQ, IRC, etc.
Second question:
Since it's not necessary in the first place, why is external app access worth anything? It's not. Especially since it's heavily dependent on Facebook's ever-changing whims. That's just as useful as having access to some random forum through your IM client.
--Kyle
Friends don't let friends use proprietary IM protocols...
hi
If you want something Universal, try the TokSee chat:
http://members.toksee.com/doublet
You can grab the code and embed it anywhere you want. There will be soon javascript codes for MySpace and there is also a guest chat widget code for running a multi-person chat room for conferences/meetings!
Its free.
Pidgin, which is the origin of libpurple, which in turn is the basis of Adium provides facebook integration using the pidgin-facebookchat plugin: http://code.google.com/p/pidgin-facebookchat/
This enables Facebook chat inside Pidgin ^^