I just got done reading a write-up summary of Facebook's announcement that it will be integrating Skype into its chat feature. The original article is "Facebook introduces Skype video calling" by Nancy Gohring and Juan Carlos Perez.
After reading this article I had a sense that Mark Zuckerberg might be a little overly concerned with Google Plus for a number of reasons.
Being able to chat in Facebook is nothing new. Google has been doing this with its video chat feature for quite sometime. This video chat feature is now integrated into Google Plus. Moreover, Google's chat has integration with its Google Voice system already and that has become quite popular.
Zuckerberg claims there is an advantage to partnering with companies like Skype because they are focused on specific technologies. That comment to me sounds like an excuse to not being able to to all of the things that Google already can, on your own. So, knowing that Mircrosoft has purchased Skype and Facebook has a tight relationship with Microsoft, and Microsoft's failures in mobile and search technologies, makes me wonder how this relationship will help bolster Facebook.
I find that Zuckerberg even acknowledging Google Plus at this point quite fascinating. A product that is still in beta and kept from the real world is getting special attention from the Facebook CEO. He goes on to say it is "consistent with companies of all stripes tapping into the social-networking wave". Does he have a profile on all of these sites? Which also makes me wonder if the judgments about Zuckerberg as a brat are now becoming exposed at the slightest hint of competition. Also, touting that Facebook allows third-party developers to post their own apps instead of writing them all themselves further demonstrates a concern Facebook is aware that Google has the all of the puzzle pieces, and if Google Plus works, it will simply be a glue bringing them all together. Also, if you've noticed Google's App Store, they work with plenty of third-party developers.
Zuckerberg and Skype CEO Tony Bates in discussions that they will consider including voice-over-IP calling soon, well Google is already there with Google Voice.
Their claims that video chatting over a one-to-one connection is preferred, I'm not so sure of that. That might be true in personal life, but in business, I've always clamored for video chat in a group setting. One-on-one communication is only the most important part of chat, if the communication required is one-on-one.
I also found it interesting that Zuckerberg says they will now measure growth in the number of things shared as opposed to the number of users which is now 750 million. Is this change of measurement because Facebook's user growth is beginning to slow?
In short, this article does nothing for me but show a few dents in Facebook's armor.
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