Facebook to Launch Integrated IM, BGR to Yawn

Do you have any Facebook contacts with whom you communicate whose IM details you don’t have? We’re not talking about the kid from third grade with the lazy eye who friended you out of the blue, we mean contacts you actually converse with. Of course not, and yet Facebook is reportedly planning to institute a proprietary IM platform to give users yet another unnecessary means of communications. Forget the fact that there are already a bunch of integrated IM apps on Facebook that you don’t use, and the fact that you’re already dodging app invites and annoying super-mega-sheep throwing-martini-pokes several times per day. Will proprietary instant messaging really add any more unwarranted value above and beyond the unwarranted value that Facebook already has? Ok, we’ll at least concede that an app-based IM solution might be of interest although without support across PC, Mac, mobile, etc it would still get a ‘pass’. Rumor has it however, that Facebook’s IM will be accessible through the website only with no word on a publicly-available API or desktop software. Will anyone really opt to log onto Facebook, dig through their cluttered profile page and initiate an IM conversation (assuming your contact is also logged in with Facebook open and visible so (s)he actually sees the incoming IM)? Of course you’ll need to sit there and stare at your Facebook page lest you miss an incoming message. Sounds a bit cumbersome compared to opening your local IM app of choice, double-clicking on a contact and typing. Yaaaaaawn.

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