Facebook messaging service lets members chat with their friends without requiring installation.
It may not have been like waking up to a gift from Santa Claus, but Oklahoma State students woke up to a surprise on Wednesday morning.
Members of the popular social networking Web site, http://www.facebook.com, awoke to find a new feature had been added to their profile.
Facebook, which is estimated to have more than 70 million users, added a chat feature to its Web site.
A press release made the new function public in early April.
Facebook Chat intends to make communication between members more efficient and easier than before.
The feature works directly in the browser and requires no additional installation. It appears as a slender rectangular box that allows members to see which of their friends are online, keeps track of current conversations and checks their notifications.
A green dot next to a friend’s name indicates that person is online. Members can replace the green dot with a red one if they prefer to see their profile without Facebook Chat. A red dot indicates a user has logged off Facebook Chat but not necessarily the Web site.
Facebook and other social networking sites, such as http://www.myspace.com, have come under fire for being so-called “predator gateways.”
Some students think the addition of Facebook Chat does nothing to help an already growing problem.
“Chat rooms are full of all kinds of creeps,” said Sarah Beard, an English freshman. “There are so many creeps on Facebook, and they have more access than they should [especially now].”
Facebook Chat is not for everyone, and some students, like Spencer Thach, a wildlife ecology freshman, are taking quick action to return their Facebook to normalcy.
“I just got rid of it,” Thach said. “It looked annoying.”
Even though Thach didn’t give the new application much of a chance, he said he‘s not counting on regretting his actions anytime soon.
For many students who use the social networking site, the jury is still out on Facebook Chat. Ryhan Hodges, an ecology sophomore, said he had not seen the feature yet but isn’t sure yet what he will do about it.
Facebook Chat resembles popular messenger services like AOL Instant Messenger and MSN Messenger. According to its press release, Facebook Chat users will not need to create a buddy list because the application uses members’ existing list of friends.
Because of the similarity to existing messenger services, Taryn Cheesman, an advertising and marketing sophomore, said she thinks she will not use Facebook Chat.
“It is too similar to AIM which is already productive,” Cheesman said. “There is no reason [for me] to change.”
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