Facebook Chat to work on Jabber IM clients
Facebook Chat might've had a simple and quiet launch, but a month later, the social network is already announcing plans to upgrade.
Engineer David Reiss announced Tuesday evening on the Facebook Developer Blog that Facebook Chat will soon have an Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) interface--that's better known as Jabber. This will mean that external clients will be able to incorporate Facebook Chat, currently restricted in most cases to the browser.
Universal IM clients Digsby (which is PC-only) and Adium (which is Mac-only) have already worked in ways to support Facebook Chat.
Through Facebook's official Jabber support, which is coming "in the near future," Facebook members will be able to not only chat with their friends, but also see friends' profile pictures through the IM client and set their Facebook statuses.
Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
