Breaking News: Facebook Unveils Video Calling (and More)

Adam Zuckerman July 6, 2011 Tweet

Last week when Google+ was released to the general public, Facebook quietly countered with an announcement that they would unveil an important new product in the near future.

That day is today.

Speculated to be another redesign of its layout, a new release of an advanced HTML5 mobile site, video integration with Skype, or something altogether different, Facebook held a livestream press conference today at 1pm EDT to put an end to the mystery.  Watched by more than 50,000 people, the wait is over.

Facebook began the press conference by declaring that sharing between online members has experienced exponential growth, and they expect it to continue for at least the next five years.  The new features, which they have been building for the past 6 months, clearly address that prediction:

1. Video calling, in partnership with Skype, is coming to the Friends area of your Facebook page
2. A new design will be unveiled
3. Group chat will be added in the form of a buddy list to make it even easier to reach friends

Cool, huh?  I guess we’ll all become even bigger social media losers once these features roll out. What do you think of these announcements?