Facebook Video Calling: Dinosaur Reinvented?

By now the news has spread far and wide: Facebook Video Calling (powered by Skype) is here! Have you tried it yet?

It failed for us on our first attempt.  Yep.  Will we be coming back for more?  Absolutely; without a doubt in our minds!

Why did it fail?  Perhaps Firefox 5 running on Windows 7 (as made possible by Parallels on our MacBook Pros) is the culprit?  No, that can’t be … Facebook recommends Firefox as the preferred browser (maybe not preferred, but it’s at the top of the list at least…).

In today’s posting we will refrain from further speculation as to why our first attempt at using Facebook Video Calling failed and focus on a hearty combination of the facts put forth by Facebook and others’ shared experiences.

How Can I Set Up Facebook Video Calling?

Rather than reinvent the wheel, Mashable.com has put together a complete walk-through of installing the Video Calling feature for Facebook.  Take a peek at the photo-guided tour right HERE.

Want to dive in head-first without anyone trying to poke their nose in your business?  Check out the real deal at facebook.com/videocalling … when you see the guy and his dog, you’ve arrived at the right place.

What Are The Benefits?

Here’s a brief list of some of the benefits we found when assessing Facebook’s new Video Calling feature:

• The obvious: Video Chat with Facebook friends without leaving Facebook
• The cleverly candid: Video Chat without an installed camera for audio-only conversations
• The crew (and only the crew): Create lists to exclude from Video Calling access
• The assistant: Away from Facebook?  Have friends leave you a video message

What Are Others Saying?

As mentioned earlier, Mashable’s walk-through for installing Facebook Video Calling has garnered quite the community following and interaction over the social network’s newest feature/integration.

Here we’ve highlighted several of our favorite conversations which we feel best appraise the overall opinion held by Mashable’s readers aka the (well connected and/or informed) public.

In Conclusion

It is a point well made that MySpace did in fact have the video calling feature as far back as 2004.  This is not anything new within the social sphere, but it comes at a critical point where Facebook has had the long-term advantage of watching MySpace swell and recede over time.  Will the ‘new’ feature keep Facebook users interested enough to stick around or is it something that gives the fickle another reason to move on?  Please feel free to share your thoughts in the comment section below.

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