For anyone who like to chat on facebook there are alternative methods to use the chat facilities. I don’t like using the online chat interface, i find it very slow and it seems to pause as your typing. It can be very frustrating. I have found there are other ways to connect to this interface using Miranda IM – with Miranda IM you can also connect to all your other favourite chat providers such as Google, Yahoo, MSN and many many others. Miranda IM is a free and VERY small program that is highly customizable and you can do pretty much what you like with it. I have my Miranda IM set up to deliver contact updates too – which means whenever someone on facebook posts a new status it automatically pops up on screen. Its a really nice and easy way to chat to people and you don’t need to be on the facebook page to use it.
Miranda IM: http://www.miranda-im.org/
Facebook Plug-in: http://addons.miranda-im.org/details.php?action=viewfile&id=4172
or select Jabber:
- Protocol: XMPP or Jabber
- Username: Your username
- Domain: chat.facebook.com
- Jabber ID: <username>@chat.facebook.com
- Password: <your Facebook password>
Enter the following server info, as requested:
- Port: 5222
- Server: chat.facebook.com
- Use SSL/TLS: no
- Allow plaintext authentication: no
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hmm, interesting. I wasn’t aware that facebook had an interface to their chat system other than web scraping. Certainly in the olden days we had to use a fancy http system that used a ton of bandwidth to just keep you online.
This system is very fast and not bandwidth or process intensive. I did try Pigdin but i found that a little overpowering. Miranda IM is fully customizable and very good for quick systems