Facebook Chat is about to land

As a keen FBer, I'm quite excited about the prospect of the native Facebook chat application. I've tried out several third-party chat apps within Facebook, and none were exactly what I'd call seamless. In fact, all have been incredibly unwieldy, forcing new windows to open or standalone clients (what is the point?) to pop up.

Facebook's been struggling to make money, and this development will certainly make the site more attractive to advertisers by increasing the length of time users spend there. Of course, if this fails then perhaps Facebook will end up consigned to the dustbin of Web 2.0 fads. Personally, I hope it succeeds because I really can't be bothered to set up yet another profile at yet another social networking site.

The chat app will be rolled out this week, but those wanting an early peek can check out InsideFaceBook's coverage here.