Facebook Said To Resume Talks With Skype 58
An anonymous reader writes "You may soon be able to start a Skype video call with your friends on Facebook. The latest rumor suggests that Facebook and Skype have resumed talks about integrating the video conferencing technology on the social network. The two companies first talked about a potential partnership in September 2010, but they could not reach an agreement. When Skype 5.0 was released in October 2010, the new version offered voice calling between Facebook friends, but it did not include a video chatting feature."
Why? (Score:4, Insightful)
If I want to talk to my friends, I'm going to just call them. I'm certainly not going to login to a website and send messages through a proprietary system to them. And I'm *certainly* not going to login to the website, find their page or find them in some contact list, then call them via skype. Instead, I'm going to . . . you know, pick up the fucking phone.
Besides, Skype isn't in keeping with the spirit of Facebook. Facebook (like all social networking) is NOT about one on one communication. Social networking sites are all about "I AM SO IMPORTANT... I AM **SO** IMPORTANT . . . . that I can't be bothered to let the people important to me in y life know about things or talk with them. Instead, I'm going to broadcast it to the entire world so I can put in the least amount of effort and personal interaction to accomplish telling EVERYONE on earth about X, Y, and Z. . ."
The only way this would keep in spirit with facebook is if it only broadcast everything you said via Skype into some massive 1,200 person distribution list that they can then *listen* to.
Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)
Just because you can't think of a good reason to use it, doesn't mean anyone else can't think of a reason to use it.
You further display a remarkable amount of ignorance as to the platforms actual usage. I'm sure some people use it worthlessly, just like Twitter, but it is also a meaningful way to communicate and share what interests you. It, in fact, lets you know some people better than you otherwise might, and can be used to have interesting conversations both online and offline.
I don't understand why people have such a hate on for social networking, as if it "doesn't count" or whatever. It's just another way to communicate. It's damn convenient for showing the world what you care about - and I'm sure you think that people just lie, but that's just not true. Friends like that, are not friends - they are enemies. Why would you be friends with a liar or deceiver in real life?
Also, let us not forget that the advent of the telephone brought about fears of people never seeing each other due to the incredible ease of calling someone.
Some people, of course, use it wrong or annoyingly - those people are ignored. This shit ain't hard, people.
of course it will play out like this... (Score:2, Insightful)
1st month: it's discovered any one of your FB friends can initiate a video call (which is conveniently automatically "accepted") leading to hilarity as someone you don't know now can see you in your skivvies.
2nd month: it's discovered that your FB friends (and their friends) can play with the URL bar to get access to your call history and, in some cases, play back phone calls. Which are, of course, recorded and passed through filters counting the number of times you say Bieber, restaurant and Google.
3rd month: A service "upgrade" publishes data for telemarketers (oh yeah, remember all those companies you've been "liking"?) for VoIP calls. Which happens to also include your cell phone information. FaceBook releases a statement that oh yeah, we forgot about that Do Not Call registry.
6th month: It's revealed that FB charges the Feds a low, low price of $0.99/time period for your call records.
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Careful what you wish for (Score:5, Insightful)
You do realize that the "up to date" Skype client is a horrible piece of adware/nagware, while the old one is just a nice quiet application? Be careful what you wish for.