Facebook may begin to offer a video-conference application for its 600+ million users. The largest social networking site in the world could make a partnership with Skype for this. Facebook declared for the American publication that the discussions and negotiations between the two companies started since early 2010.
Skype was founded in 2003 by the Swedish entrepreneur Niklas Zennström and Dane. The Skype software was developed by Estonian developers Ahti Heinla, Priit Kasesalu and Jaan Tallinn, the same individuals who together with Niklas and Janus were also behind the P2P file sharing software Kazaa. In April 2003, Skype.com and Skype.net domain names were registered. In August 2003, the first public beta version was released. Right now, their membership base is more than 650 million people, pretty much the same figure that Facebook has.
Introducing a video-conferencing service would be considered as an answer from the social network to Google and Apple, companies that are already offering this feature through their software platforms. Currently, the video-conferences represent 41% of the total connections being made using Skype.
Some Facebook functions are already integrated in the newest versions of the client-program Skype and if this partnership will come to an end, the video calls will be done directly using the browser.
Facebook announced last year a new communications platform which will grant unified access to the instant messaging system offered by the company and an email account based on such addresses as user@facebook.com
The new video-conference system could be integrated in the platform that Facebook will released and which isn’t yet public, being still tested.
This whole thing makes us wonder a bit, will Facebook take over the internet. With a merge like Facebook and Skype the user ship could reach 1 Billion easily. What does this mean though? I think the question we really need to be asking is how do partnerships like this affect a daily lives? How do new innovative technologies like Skype and Facebook manipulate the way we place our attention in life. In this regard one question remains, is it us the people who are using Facebook/Skype or is it the other way around?