Skype to Facebook Video Calls Finally Possible

Last summer, Skype and Facebook announced a partnership and a deeper integration. Using Skype technology, Facebook users could have video calls inside the site. But, despite being based on Skype, they couldn't call a friend using the Skype client or the other way around.

Now though, this has become possible, with the latest beta releases of Skype for Windows and Mac.

Skype users can start a conversation with their Facebook friends from the desktop client. It doesn't matter whether their friends have the client as well, they can answer from the site and have a video conversation without the platform they use getting in the way.

"Today we are thrilled to announce our partnership with Facebook has reached yet another milestone with the launch of Skype 5.4 Beta for Mac and Skype 5.7 Beta for Windows allowing you to conduct a Facebook-to-Facebook call from within Skype," Skype announced.

The feature has been a sorely missed one and it's easy to see why. Without being able to connect with Facebook friends and start a video conversation, the integration wasn't that useful to existing Skype users.

"Initiating a Facebook-to-Facebook call from within Skype is quite easy; all you need to do is connect your Skype and Facebook accounts. Then, select a Facebook friend and hit the video call button in Skype- your friend simply picks up the call from Facebook," Skype explained.

If you've been using the video call feature on Facebook exclusively, the new addition doesn't really mean much to you. Since you can start a video call on Facebook without even having a Skype account, the desktop client probably doesn't mean much to Facebook users.

But there are plenty of Skype users out there and the ability to now chat with many other friends, who you may not have convinced them to join Skype. And now, they don't have to.