> BlogIn a recent post I talked about the new Google Social Media platform Google+ in which you can participate in ‘Hangouts’, where users can face-to-face chat via the web. Well in early July of this year, Facebook announced that it had teamed up with Skype to provide a video calling service too.
Google+ Hangouts currently allow you to have more than one person on video call, but as yet Facebook video chat doesn’t allow more than one user. It is apparently on the cards though.
Why not just use Skype?
Skype has been around since 2003 and allows people to conduct phone and video calls via the internet at no charge. Video chat via Facebook is also free of charge and is said to be much simpler than using Skype itself. You don’t have to create a new Skype account – you just log into your Facebook account, set up the function, find a friend to chat to, push a button and you can start making calls. How simple is that?
Chances are that your friends are on Facebook more so than logged into Skype too – so you will more likely be able to get hold of them via Facebook.
I don’t seem to have the feature yet?
As with most new Facebook features this one isn’t available to everyone worldwide as yet, but you are meant to be able to opt in prior to release – however when I visited the link I received a message saying ‘Video Calling Will Be Available Soon. Please check back later’.
If you think that you don’t have the feature, you actually might but perhaps haven’t completed the set up process. The first time you try to make a call or accept a call from a Friend, a ‘set up’ button will appear, click this and follow the instructions.
How do I make calls?
When you visit your friends profile on Facebook you can expect to see a new button between the ‘Message’ and ‘Poke’ buttons that says ‘Call’, once clicked your friend will receive a pop up with the option to accept (or ignore) your call and there you have it – you’re video chatting.
Most of us by now have noticed that the traditional Facebook Chat feature has undergone some changes too. A new chat side bar was recently introduced, that expands the length of the right hand side of your screen. The friends who show in this side bar are (according to Facebook) those who you message the most (this in itself has caused an uproar amongst the Facebook community). You can call via this feature on the window that pops up where you can currently text chat with a friend. A new video camera icon should appear in the top right hand corner which is where you can click to ‘call’.
If you don’t have a webcam on your computer you can still make calls, but as with Skype the person at the other end of the call will only be able to hear you.
Who can call me?
Only your confirmed Facebook friends can call you and you will be able to see a record of calls with the new Facebook Messages screen, but Facebook advise that calls will not be recorded.
Then comes the question of what about those friends on Facebook that perhaps you don’t want to be available to chat too? Well Facebook advise to create a Friend List (via your Friends page) of those friends you don’t want to participate in calls with and then via the ‘Settings’ option select ‘edit availability’, click the box next to the friend list that you don’t want to be available for and click ‘close’. This will then no longer show you ‘online’ to those friends.
What does this mean for businesses?
For the majority of businesses, it’s not going to mean a lot at this stage and that’s because Facebook Business Pages don’t have the chat function. For businesses who have set up other types of pages perhaps they will look to use the new video call feature as an all new customer service method - There has been talk of companies using Google+ for this type of communication.
As with all Social Media platforms they are constantly evolving and as the debate continues over whether Google+ or Facebook is going to ‘win’ the lion’s share of users, people will continue to experiment, develop new applications and share their experiences. So if you aren’t participating in Social Media Marketing yet – why not start now, before you get left behind?
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