Access Facebook Chat from Any Desktop IM Client

If there was any doubt that Facebook is very serious about chat, it's gone now. The social network has rolled out support for the Jabber/XMPP protocol almost two years after it announced it was working on it. What this means is that you will be able to chat with your Facebook friends using the desktop and mobile IM software of your choice without having to be on the site. Facebook has also added the necessary Connect hooks so any developer can implement Facebook Chat on their site or web app.

"Starting today, the more than two billion chat messages sent on the site every day can be sent from your favorite desktop instant messaging client," Facebook engineer David Reiss wrote. "By integrating Facebook Chat with your preferred instant messenger, you'll never miss a message when you have to navigate away from Facebook and you'll be in control of how and where you chat with your Facebook friends. Simply connect your Facebook account with the instant messaging client of your choice and start chatting. You will not need to stay logged in to Facebook.com to continue to access your Facebook friends."

The advantages of this are obvious. Chat has been one of the most popular features on the site, yet it didn't seem to get that much attention from Facebook. The biggest drawback was that you needed to be on Facebook to use it, there was no dedicated client. Meebo added support for it last summer, but this too was web-only. In the latest redesign the Chat list shows up in the left sidebar. AIM also rolled out support for Facebook chat yesterday. Facebook announced in May 2008 that it would add support for Jabber/XMPP, but it took its sweet time releasing.

Also interesting and potentially more important for the social network is the Chat support now available in Facebook Connect. Developers using the Facebook API can now implement chat features on their site enabling users to log in and chat on third-party sites or apps securely. If you're using IM clients like iChat or Adium on Mac or Pidgin on Windows, Linux or Mac, you're ready to go, but any IM client which supports the Jabber/XMPP protocol will do. Setting up the client is relatively straightforward so there shouldn't be too much of a hassle.

Setting up Facebook Chat in Pidgin

Pidgin is definitely the most popular cross platform IM client out there and you can set up your Facebook Chat account in just a few steps. In the main chat window go to the "Accounts" menu, select "Manage Accounts" and then click "Add accounts." Select the XMPP protocol, enter your Facebook username, "chat.facebook.com" as the "Domain" and your password. "Resource" and "Local Alias" are optional. In the advanced tab deselect "Require SSL/TLS," enter 5222 as the "Connect port" (this should already be filled in by default) and "chat.facebook.com" as the "Connect server," though this last step is optional. That's it, you're set to use Facebook Chat in Pidgin.