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Facebook Chat Launch Appears Imminent

Posted by Nick O'Neill on April 3rd, 2008 12:18 AM

It appears that Facebook’s chat application may be launching very soon. Facebook has been making a significant number of JavaScript updates throughout the day. Facebook has also added a presence cookie which appears to store information about your related to chat and where you are located on the site. The real change which has sparked our intrigue is that Facebook now has a continuous TCP connection with all logged in users.

This is only necessary for those applications that are looking to push data back to the user beyond the typical loading of a webpage. A number of these changes have gone live and it signified that one: Facebook is updating their Javascript and two: the chat launch appears to be imminent.

I’m excited to see Facebook’s new chat application and whether or not it goes live tonight, it will definitely be a great addition to the site. Conversely, I’m sure it will piss off a number of developers that currently provide chat solutions for Facebook users. Will you be spending even more time once the chat feature is launched? Thanks to Eric Kerr for the heads up.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, April 3rd, 2008 at 12:18 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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    They've been testing that persistent connection live for almost two weeks now. If you use a JavaScript debugger like Firebug it starts to consume a lot of resources. That's what made me first notice it. Chat is definitely due any day now, but unfortunately this is no indicator of an imminent launch since it's been live for a couple weeks now.
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    Changes to the Ts and Cs page too, this paragraph wasn't there on Wednesday:

    "Facebook Chat
    Your use of Facebook Chat is subject to the Facebook Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. By using Chat, you consent to Facebook storing the conversations you have with other Users on servers owned or controlled by Facebook. You understand that even if you delete a conversation you have with another user, that user may save it. You further agree that Facebook may scan, use, and retain copies of your conversations for a limited time solely to filter spam, detect viruses, and to test and improve Chat. You may not send (or authorize others to use your account to send) unsolicited bulk communications using Facebook Chat."

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