Ever notice the little call button on your friend’s Facebook profile?
Launched officially last July, Facebook and Skype has merged “their services to allow users to video call any of their Facebook friends” (Furr, 2011). Facebook users click on the video icon and get connected instantly via video. In Benedicta’s blog, she talked about how this move is competing with technology powerhouse Google’s introduction of Google+ “Hangouts”, which enables a group of people to video chat together. In more recent news, the two of the biggest names in the social media industry has extended the merger “by [Skype] releasing updates that embed its software more directly into Facebook, allowing video chats across both networks” (Evangelista, 2011).
The big bosses say the goal of the integration is for simplicity. I say the move is just to deepen the heated rivalry between all these types of social media. One is scared to lose their market to the other, and vice versa. But really, how many users around the globe actually click on the video chat icon on Facebook? I personally don’t; I use Facebook for networking purposes and use Skype for video calls.
And I’m positive that many do the same too.
Word Count: 200
Image: http://www.techinsert.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/fb-video-calling1.png