Facebook makes Chat available to any IM client

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Facebook Chat can now be integrated into any instant-messaging application, the social network announced Wednesday.

‘We believe you should be able to connect with your Facebook friends everywhere,’ Facebook engineer David Reiss wrote on the social network’s blog.

‘We’re happy to announce that now you can with Facebook Chat. Starting today, the more than two billion chat messages sent on the site every day can be sent from your favorite desktop instant messaging client.’

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is the first major IM platform to work with Facebook Chat. The service also works with multiplatform IM clients Adium, Pidgin and iChat.

When AIM users log in to their buddy lists, they will now see a Facebook Connect button. After clicking that button, they can link both accounts and chat with Facebook friends from AIM’s interface without visiting Facebook.com. The social network didn’t say if any other major instant-messaging companies had signed on to integrate Facebook Chat.

-- Don Reisinger