has come through as the winner in the social network game. Unlike MySpace, Facebook has been accepted by a much wider audience, although I do not have numbers to confirm this.

When they opened up their API to developers to build applications on the network, things exploded and went crazy. We were all flooded with application requests and it even got annoying. But many still muster through the invitations and ad applications daily.

Facebook has now taken the entire social networking platform one step further, by integrating its own instant messenger. Already incorporating an email service, this now makes it a complete communication service.
Featuring the basic emoticons to spice up your chat, the feature can be found on a new toolbar at the base of your browser window. Quick buttons displaying a basic menu settings and summary , how many of your contacts are online, how many notifications you have waiting in queue and a tab for each chat friend that you have open can be found lining up the bar from the right to the left.

This is an exciting feature, as it now opens up the possibility for webcam integration, voice chats, file sharing and whiteboard sharing features that can be found in most common IM services currently.

The feature is designed to be a retention factor to FB, as I think that they have started to notice a decline in usage by its members. This will be a great way to keep their users within the platform, so good one Facebook!