FaceBook Instant Message Feature Live

Now that FaceBook's instant messaging feature is live and I have had a chance to play with it, I must say it is getting a resounding "meh" from me. I was looking forward to a feature that would enable me to talk with my FaceBook contacts without having to resort to one of the intrusive third party applications, but the end release is underwhelming at best.

The first issue I have with the feature is its location. It took me a minute to realize that FaceBook had chosen to place instant messaging in a small tool bar at the bottom of the screen. First of all, I am on a laptop most of the time, which has a much smaller screen than my desktop. When you couple that with the fact that I also run the StumbleUpon toolbar, Google toolbar, Mac's Dock, BlogRovr and other things, my screen real estate becomes prime, and losing any of it is not an option I'm interested in.

Once you figure out where the instant message feature is, you notice that there is a little bubble with a number in it. This made me think I already had some people trying to contact me, but alas it was just FaceBook giving the annoying third party applications another way to notify me when one of my friends uses any of them. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for some of these applications, like Scrabulous, but I am so over Vampires, Werewolves and things like Hot or Not quizzes, and every new person that logs in to FaceBook feels the need to try it all out. My regular notification window is plenty of information already. There is a way to turn this off, but why is it there in the first place?

There is a way to set yourself as "offline", thank goodness (clicking on the little silhouette next to the notifications blurb does that). That is essential for someone like me who is too easily distracted. I tend to fly with all of my many instant message accounts off during the day whenever possible. Except for Twitter, of course, which I have become dependent upon for news and entertainment throughout the day.

Similar to Google's GTalk, you can pop the chat / instant message window out, and also similar, it goes away if you leave FaceBook. You can tweak three settings only - notifications, how you see your friends (with or without a photo) and whether or not the list of your online friends stays open. Those are fairly limiting as a set of options. Much like Skype, FaceBook's inability to be used outside of FaceBook's own site is frustrating. I want all of my instant message programs to be able to be used as stand alone accounts in Adium or Trillian. Even GTalk lets me do that, so why won't FaceBook (or Skype)?

Overall, I will not be using FaceBook's instant message interface much, if at all. It simply doesn't do enough to be useful to me, and it runs the risk of adding more distraction to an already full day. Perhaps if they make it Adium and Trillian friendly I would reconsider.