Facebook comes voice chat. Sometime in the next few weeks, the social network’s tens of millions of users will begin to be able to have high-quality voice conversations, even as its third-party developers are able to start including voice in their applications. The new technology is not being offered by Facebook itself, however. Instead, it’s from Vivox, a Boston-based company that provides the integrated voice service for virtual worlds like Second Life and EVE Online, and which already has more than 15 million users worldwide. The service, which is currently in closed beta, will allow Facebook users to have high-fidelity conversations with anyone on their friends list. Each user, however, will have to download Vivox’s plug-in. But once installed, the service works almost seamlessly with Facebook, and is intended for everything from one-to-one chat to large group discussions.
Further, even non-Facebook users will be able to participate, as Vivox plans to offer free dial-in numbers that will allow anyone to call into an existing conversation, much as is possible today with call-in phone conferences.
Perhaps more importantly, according to Vivox co-founder Monty Sharma, the company is making its technology available to any third-party Facebook application developer, meaning that almost any app, from games to utilities, can have a voice component.
For now, it’s not clear how many of Facebook’s users will choose to adopt Vivox’s technology, and for the time being, at least, Facebook is not involved in any way in promoting the new service. But while some people may decide that they don’t want to use a tool that requires a plug-in, many others may well find that it’s worth the trouble in order to be able to easily start a conversation that rivals, or even betters, phone call quality.
One person who may be an early adopter is Charlene Li, a well-known social media consultant, and the co-author of the book Groundswell.
. “I would (use voice service on Facebook),” Li said, “because I see it as a continuum of communications with the people I want to stay in touch with.”
Another social media expert, Gnomedex organizer Chris Pirillo, was even more effusive about the potential for a full-fledged Facebook voice chart system. “It is about time,” Pirillo said. “I guarantee you this is going to bite into Skype.”
For Pirillo, the Vivox system will provide a valuable incentive for Facebook users to streamline their friends lists since it’s likely that they won’t want to be getting voice chat invites from people they’ve friended but might know only peripherally.
“When these tools come about,” Pirillo said, “it becomes less valuable (to have too many friends) and actually promotes a cleaner ecosystem.”
Read more on : http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/09/15/cnet.facebook.voice.chat/index.html
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