Skype has readied a brand-new Windows version of the popular online communications service, and it accentuates the company’s growing relationship with Facebook.
The shiny new function that the Skype upgrade packs is Facebook integration, which centers around incorporating your Facebook news feed, friend info, connection functions, and of course status updates. To be more specific, Skype has provided five major points that essentially defines the upgrade:
- see your Facebook News Feed in Skype
- post status updates that can be synced with your Skype mood message
- comment and like friends’ updates and wall posts
- call and SMS your Facebook friends on their mobile phones and landlines
- make a free Skype-to-Skype call if your Facebook friend is also a Skype contact
Facebook integration in the communications arena isn’t exactly new, but what we’re seeing is a growing trend in incorporating social networking into almost everything on the internet. From “Like” buttons on news organization’s websites to HTC’s “Friend stream” on its Sense Android skin, Facebook is quickly becoming a deep networking tool and profit machine. The reason Facebook keeps popping up everywhere isn’t because HTC and Skype and CNN want to bug you, we’re just experiencing a little supply and demand.
People want Facebook, so Skype gives people Facebook. 
Also included in Skype’s Windows update are major improvements to call quality, such as automatic call recovery and a ‘call quality manager’ (which gauges audio and video quality during calls). Of course, enhancements to Skype’s UI and navigation tools were made as well.
Now, as both a Skype user and a Mac user, I was ecstatic to find that we Mac users aren’t being completely abandoned by Skype. The company insists that an update for OS X is looming, and it promises an overhauled interface (which is definitely needed) and improved functionality.
For more on Skype and integration innovation, check out Funky Retro Ads to Promote Facebook, Skype, Youtube and Twitter, and Manage and Share Professional Information and More with WayConnected.
