5 weeks of Facebook Chat

5 weeks ago, Facebook discretely launched its real-time chat service. The concept of chat within social networking is a first (at least for the big networks I hold a profile in and my blabnet experiment). The idea, as Josh at Facebook puts it, is very simple immediacy: extending what has so far been messages, pokes and notification anytime you log-in, to real-conversation. Even friends' News-feeds will be incorporate in a real-time conversation as they happen.

from Facebook's blog post:
"The Wall and Inbox have been the primary ways to communicate, but when more immediacy is necessary—for example when making plans for lunch in half an hour"

I am particularly fascinated by the discrete way in which this new feature is being launched, unveiled slowly slowly in select network, without any need to download any applications or add-friends. The new Facebook Chat sits there...waiting quietly to "pull features of the site into the real- time Chat world", enhancing the Facebook experience.