A few days ago, Facebook launched a couple of new features. Group Chat & Video Calling were the two new cool additions. These features were long awaited by Facebook users as the chat experience was not that fulfilling in their absence. The timing seems to be apt so as to counter the threat of Google+. The good thing about group chat is that it can be carried on offline too. You can just select multiple friends and send a message to all of them. Every recipient would receive a message labeled "Conversation" and is able to see and talk with all recipients as well as the sender, even if they are offline. Pretty cool. Previously sending such a message would result into a private message to each friend and their reply cannot be seen by any other recipient.
Video calling is supported by Skype and is still in beta as of now. You have to first install a browser plugin to get started. Unlike group chat, you can only call an online friend who is available in chat window. The recipient also has to install the plugin before answering the call. If the call goes unanswered, an option to record video message is provided to the sender. I have tried it out but could not record any message, attributable to a server error. Though video calling worked quite fine. Probably, these issues would soon resolve as the service is still in beta. Overall these features provide good additions to Facebook experience as now people don't have to scoot off to their Skype apps for video or group chats. My only grouse is about the Video Message feature, as it should be supported for offline friends also rather then for missed or ignored video calls as it stands now.
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