
The war for consumer attention is heating up between online giants Facebook and Google.

The war for consumer attention is heating up between online giants Facebook and Google.

Facebook’s integration of Skype is providing an introduction to video calling to many people who simply did not know that free video calling has already been available on the social network.

Facebook announced the much-anticipated video chat, along with chatting in groups, both through integration with Skype. Beta versions are available on the site already, so if you’ve had a chance to try them out, please share your opinions in the comments section.

Most pundits concur that today’s Facebook announcement will involve video chat, not the Spartan platform.

The Internet voice service and the social network are now tied together far more tightly thanks to the introduction of new features.

What will become of the previously announced plan to deepen the integration of Skype within Facebook?

Facebook has been working on further integrating Skype beyond simply exchanging contacts like you can right now. So reports that the social network wants to acquire the Internet telephony giant may explain why the next stage of integration seems to be taking longer than the rapid pace that Facebook is known for.

Yet another company has beat Skype to launching free telephone calls via Facebook: T-Mobile today debuted a service the wireless carrier is calling Bobsled.

Apparently Facebook has teased at least one user with a preview of a possibly forthcoming option to initiate a phone call from the social network’s webpage, according to a tip received by The Daily What.

Facebook posts show a lot of people verging on panic over the Skype outage today.