So, Facebook added their Chat application but still haven't added the promised Jabber support so that you can use it through a standard instant messaging client. (If you haven't ever used one I recommend Pidgin - you can use it to do messaging over Jabber, Google Talk (which uses Jabber), MSN, Yahoo IM, etc, etc, in a unified way without having to install hundreds of programs. There's also a Mac-specific version called Adium.)

Fortunately, Eion Robb (who did the Skype Pidgin plugin) has come to our rescue with his Facebook Chat for Pidgin. Install it and not only can you do chatting through Pidgin, but all your Facebook notifications and friend requests can be managed there too. (Jabber support would be even better because then you could chat between different systems, just like you can email between them, but this'll do for now.)

I've had a strange experience over the past year, and it's getting more common. As a developer, I used to be the one recommending software/tech things to my friends. Now all my non-technical friends have started recommending things to me that they have discovered on the intar-web. The trouble is, they're almost all closed systems - apparently free, but under the control of one group.

It started with Skype. Then xanga. And most recently it's been facebook. The speed with which facebook has spread amongst various of our friends is impressive. Some things about it are really good too - they're beginning to understand the sorts of things you can do with the Web.