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Facebook to launch Skype-powered video chat


Video calling may soon be coming to social networking juggernaut Facebook, a tech site reported over the weekend. TechCrunch cited a source as saying that Facebook will launch a new video chat product powered by Skype that works inside the browser. "It’s not clear to me whether that means it will just work if a user has Skype already installed on the computer, or if additional software will need to be downloaded even if the user already uses Skype. But it’s clear that there’s very deep integration between the products, and from the user’s perspective, the product will be an in browser experience," TechCrunch said. This is not the first time that Facebook and Skype have worked together, as the two companies previously collaborated on the integration of Facebook features into the Skype service. This new development promises to boost Facebook's stock amidst the threat posed by Google's upcoming social network, Google+. Facebook, Skype, Microsoft to gain? The TechCrunch report said that the Facebook-Skype partnership promises to substantially increase Skype usage, as Facebook has more than 750 million active users. Skype, which is to be acquired by desktop software giant Microsoft for $8.5 billion, presently has just 170 million. "And it will certainly help Facebook become even stickier for users as they start to have voice and video chat as an option to communicate," TechCrunch said. On the other hand, TechCrunch said such an arrangement may brings Facebook even closer to Microsoft, which is a Facebook shareholder. Answer to google's 'Hangouts' A separate article on PC Magazine said that the video calling service may be Facebook's answer to the Hangouts function in Google's social network Google+. It noted Facebook partnered with Skype on Skype 5.0 in 2010, which allowed users to sign in with Facebook and then connect to their friends using the Skype application. The PC Mag article added that, in March, Facebook and Skype were said to be mulling a partnership that would tie Skype directly into the Facebook environment. — TJD, GMA News

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