Facebook’s users are bound to be excited by news that the social network is planning to roll out its own chat service in the coming weeks; Facebook developers, perhaps not so much.

There are dozens of developers offering chat applications designed to run on the Facebook platform. Facebook’s decision to get into the chat business for itself means those developers will now have to grapple with an 800 lb gorilla in the room, sucking up all the air

As revealed to reporters on Tuesday, Facebook’s new chat service looks to be a no-frills affair. The service doesn’t allow group chats, and users will only be allowed to chat with other Facebook friends. Still, Facebook’s decision to make its chat service a full-fledged feature of the site means that it will be in pole position to capture users from rival applications that sit on the Facebook platform.

The situation is reminiscent of that faced by developers writing applications to run on Windows in the 1990s. Back then, if a particular application market got big enough, the chances were that Microsoft would move in to try to capture it for itself. That is why Microsoft muscled its way into the highly profitable market for word processing and other office productivity software, where it was able to gain a huge advantage by tying shipments of Office to Windows.

None of the third-party chat applications on Facebook have met with huge success yet. But there are signs that chat could become an important feature on social networks as it has on the rest of the internet, where usage is widespread. AOL, for example, has said that close integration with its AIM messaging service is one of the chief rationales behind its $800m acquisition last week of Bebo, a Facebook rival.

In addition to its new chat feature, Facebook already has applications that let its users share photos, video, and other information with their online friends. The question vexing Facebook developers is, what other popular applications does Facebook plan claim for itself?

Tags: applications, chat, Facebook, Internet, platform, social networking

March 19th, 2008 in Internet | Permalink