Sure, we all know that Facebook video calling – launched in July – is powered by Skype. But now you can make a Facebook-to-Facebook video call from within Skype itself.
To do so, you need to download a new version of Skype: 5.7 Beta for Windows or 5.4 Beta for Mac.
“Initiating a Facebook-to-Facebook call from within Skype is quite easy; all you need to do is connect your Skype and Facebook accounts. Then, select a Facebook friend and hit the video call button in Skype – your friend simply picks up the call from Facebook,” explained Skype exec Rick Osterloh.
“This [allows] you [to] maintain social connections with your Facebook friends and compliments previously announced features such as being able to see when your Facebook friends are online, read their status updates and IM them all from Skype.”
In addition to Facebook-to-Facebook calls, Skype has added a number of new features to the latest version of its software, including video rendering for Mac and group screen sharing for Windows users with a premium subscription (group screen sharing is currently available for Mac users).
Of course, users who are chatting one-on-one will also be able to screen share with live video streaming.
Facebook, which is based in Palo Alto, boasts more than 800 million users worldwide. Skype, purchased by Microsoft earlier this year for $8.5 billion, has more than 170 million.
