by Brian Solis
Facebook Chat is quickly becoming my instant messenger of choice, but I still also have contacts who either are not yet on Facebook or choose not to be. In turn, I have to also run other apps such as Skype, Adium, and/or Meebo in order to stay connected.
Two new tools recently were introduced to bring Facebook Chat out of the social network to the Mac and PC desktop; Gabtastik for Mac and Digsby for PC (Mac and Linux support coming soon). Thanks to Nick O’Neill of SocialTimes for the heads up on Digsby.
The beauty is that both services also integrate other chat clients such as Yahoo IM, AOL, and Google Talk, so that I can have one chat window open for managing conversations all in one place.
Gabtastik is a WebKit based Site Specific Browser (SSB) for web chat services. It lets you keep chat sessions open on your OS X desktop outside of your regular web browser.
In addition to IM and Facebook chat, Digsby also provides email alerts that allow you to perform actions such as ‘Delete’ or ‘Report Spam’ with just one click. It also supports social networks, including MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter, and alerts you of events, new messages, and provides a live Newsfeed of what your friends are up to. I can also update directly from Digsby to each respective network. I have to admit that it’s pretty cool to watch the live feeds from Twitter and Facebook in addition to having my contacts.
While each represent steps in the right direction, Digsby is currently the winner in becoming my day-to-day platform for integrated chat and social network and micromedia activity. I can say, however, that I will keep both installed and continue to experiment. I just wish Digsby was also on Mac!
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bub.blicio.us digsby twitter facebook chat myspace gabtastik social network media
{ 4 comments }
Have any other Mac users found that the input field for Facebook chat on Gabtastic is squashed so that it’s impossible to read what you type if it’s only one line long? For some reason mine is tiny in the vertical direction.
It’s a great tool otherwise, but it sucks if you can’t read what you write!
Thanks for the shoutout Brian! I haven’t had the opportunity to check out Gabtastik but I definitely will try to install it on my Mac.
Excellent post. Thank you. I signed up for digsby, and could see the benefits immediately after reading your article.
Thank you!
Dr. Sally Witt
http://www.drsallywitt.com
Can’t wait for a Mac version! They’ve been saying it’s in the works for a while now, hope it comes out soon.
I have been using Adium on Mac, which is good as it integrates all the chats in one window (unlike Gabtastic), only problem is it doesn’t offer Facebook chat or Twitter( unless you add Twitter as a GTalk contact). Just have to plug away with that until Digsby is Mac ready I guess.
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