Facebook has launched a video calling feature powered by Skype. The announcement was made on Wednesday afternoon at the Facebook news conference. Along with the launch of video calling, Facebook also rolled out a new feature for group chatting. To get started with video calling, a small install is required; it can be downloaded from the Facebook site. The chat tool did get a little facelift as well.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqd_4KSbnJo

The announcement comes just a week after the launching of Google+ project, Google’s social network, which is currently in limited field trial. Google+ has its own video calling feature, Google Hangout, which supports group calls of up to ten users. Facebook’s video call currently supports only one-on-on calls, but the Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, said that most video calls are one-on-one and that is what Facebook is focusing on. Skype is also set to benefit from the partnership with Facebook by having their service accessible by the 750 million Facebook users.

Even though Facebook lacks group calling, video calling is expected to be a new and exciting experience to its massive user base. Video calling will ensure Facebook stays ahead of Twitter and Google+, who are said to its closest competitor.

References:

Facebook announcesSkype-Powered Video Chat BGR July 6^th, 2011

Facebook Video Chat V. Google Hangout: It’s no contest Techcrunch  July 6^th, 2011

Facebook Releases Group Chat Mashable July 6^th, 2011