How to Add Facebook Chat to Your IM Client

By -

Facebook may have partnered with AIM to bring chat to your desktop, but if you're not a fan of the official AIM client, there's now an easy way to get Facebook Chat in the IM client of your choice.

Over a year ago, Facebook announced that they planned to support Facebook Chat over XMPP/Jabber, the same protocol that Google Talk uses, so people could use Facebook Chat in their favorite IM client—and then it was never mentioned again. Yesterday, though, Facebook announced that in addition to the AIM partnership, the XMPP/Jabber implementation had finally come to fruition.

If you are using a multi-protocol IM client such as Pidign, Adium, or iChat, set-up is really easy—you just add a new Jabber or XMPP account, the username being your username@chat.facebook.com, with your password being the same as your Facebook password. If you still haven't gotten a Facebook username (the tag that appears after www.facebook.com/ for your profile page) you'll need to go to your Settings page to enable it.

Once you log in, all your Facebook friends should show up in your buddy list. If this is good enough for you, that's fine, but I found it really messed with my organization. Although Facebook lets you decide which friend lists do and do not show up in your IM client, it doesn't seem to realize that those not on a list are important too—so if you have friends that aren't on a friend list, they'll just show up in a list called "Buddies" on your IM client, and there's no way to take them off (short of hiding that list client-side). Since most of my AIM and Gtalk contacts were already on a list called "Buddies", I had to create a new list for them to get my organization back on track. You may or may not care—it's just a warning that that list will likely be where all your unlisted Facebook friends go (at least it was for me).

Apart from that, everything else should be handled pretty well client-side. Profile thumbs are grabbed, Away in your client corresponds to Idle on Facebook, and, if you were previously using the unofficial add-on for adding Facebook Chat to Adium or Pidgin, you should find that the official route is far less flaky as far as connection goes. The service is pretty new, so there are bound to be a few bugs or hidden workarounds—if you find any, be sure to let us know in the comments!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Top 5 Most Alcoholic Drinks (Cocktails)

By -
Image
5 Strongest Drinks Mixed Drink Recipes #5: The Long Island Ice Tea. This one is a classic. I can remember the first time a friend introduced me to this. After three I was laughing because they were so smooth then I stood up. Then something happened (obvious censoring) and everyone laughed at me for months after. Good times. The Long Island Ice Tea was long the king (queen?) of all strong alcoholic mixed drinks, and still deserves a place on the list. Recipe: 1 shot of vodka, 1 shot of rum, 1 shot of gin, 1 shot of gin, 1 shot of triple sec, 1 lemon, coke. Fill a cocktail shaker with ice add the spirits into the cocktail shaker. Squeeze a fresh lemon into the shaker as well. Put the lid on and shake, add to a tall glass then add lots of ice before slowly pouring the coke on top of the ice. Note: many bartenders will make a weaker version with only half a shot of each. #4: Irish Car Bomb. Many versions of this have a ½ shot of whiskey mixed with a ½ shot of Irish Crea
Read more

Teenage Diaries: The Days That Were

By -
Teenage Diaries: The Days That Were ~Saurabh Sharma Language: English Binding: Paperback Publisher: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd Genre: Humor ISBN: 9789352017263, 9352017269 Edition: First, 2016 Pages: 320 A simple read which takes you back to school days and relights your old memories. It can engulf you in the plots you made during school days, the vivid imagination you had during those days and how you took interest in every little detail of what happens around you. Ghanshyam and Vikram, their friendship, love and the plots \ schemes for an 8th grader students. A new turn to the adolescence life and learning human aspects like love, friendship and moreso who to trust and how difficult it is to trust is what the book is all about. Saurabh Sharma has done a very well thought character development and gives it all to make sure that the readers connect well with the protagonist and can communicate with self regard. To sum it up, this books takes you back to your school
Read more

Fables from India: A Collection of Short Stories by Uday Mane

By -
Fables from India: A Collection of Short Stories by Uday Mane A King’s negligence costs the Prince his eyes. A farmer is torn between resurrecting his wife and upholding his duties. A jester lives two lives – Masked for others. Unmasked for himself. A magnificent tree bears fruits of different kinds, but the King wants it to be cut down to serve justice. An orphan boy is in search of the world’s bestselling book. A dog struggles to uncurl his tail. Many other stories apart from the above. Set in ancient times 22 short stories by Uday Mane keeps you guessing and takes you back to the young age. It reminds you of your childhood, your imagination is uplifted and refreshed all over again while reading the book. You are swept away in Kingdoms and Kings with all the Castles and Prince's, all these are lively and eccentric yet very close to your heart. Uday Mane keeps you held in every story plot which is simple and straight-forward and with a twist that either makes you happy or s
Read more