Nikki: i guess i hate the idea of fbook chat. do you know what Facebook feature i do want though?

Adam: whats that?

Nikki: i want to know who’s viewed my page

Adam: Some dating sites do that
OKcupid.com for example
BUT you to give if u want to get

Nikki: right like then other people could see when i stalk them

Adam: yeah exactly. so u have to choose the option that allows other people to see that you’ve checked them out
OR u could make yourself totally invisible, but u don’t get to see who is checking u out.
it’s a good equitable system.

Nikki: hahahahha agreed
it’s not offensive to look though
you’re not chatting, not messaging
or writing on walls
just looking
and it’s not public info
just the person who’s profile it is would know,
not everyone

Adam: right
the only thing that gets weird is if u check the same person’s profile like a number of times hahaha

Nikki: hahahahha so true

Adam: there are people that i don’t even know that well but i check their profile all the time because they fascinate me.
they’d prob be so weirded out if they knew

Nikki: yeah totes hahahha
don’t you want to know who you’re that person for though?

Adam: hahaha yes. In fact, maybe I’m that person to that exact person!

Nikki: HAHHAHAHHAHA

Adam: and maybe we’re constantly checking each other out shamefully

Nikki: amazing

And if facebook had that option I’d be all about it too! I love stalking, and feel like chatting would interrupt my blissful voyeurism. Sometimes as I browse through peoples’ pics, I imagine myself at those parties, or political rallies, or I wonder if I had dated my ex longer if that would be me on that Jamaican love cruise. Who wants to chat with random high school peeps amidst vivid daydreaming? However, if I could sign in and remain invisible, it would simply up the stalking excitement. I would be able to see you’re online, look at all your pictures, and decide to say hi to you if I wanted.

If everyone started signing on as invisible, though, it would ruin the whole thing. It would be the equivalent of fbook chatting not existing at all. Which is kinda how I liked it anyway!

I will also admit that I am on Facebook all day long – and I don’t even have a valid “work” excuse to go along with it. If users are constantly plugged into the Facebook network, there is the potential that it will become a one-stop shop for your IM needs. No more running between AIM and Gchat to track everyone in your network down!

The voyeurism of which you speak could also help to fuel the phenomenon. I often find myself sending links to my friends of noteworthy articles or photos, and Facebook itself provides plenty of these “conversation starters” to its users.

In my opinion the biggest problem with Facebook chat right now is that you can only be online or offline – the inability to block certain contacts that Gchat provides is probably causing many of your 1,307 friends to opt for “offline” status in order to avoid chatting it up ad infinitum with that random person who poked them back in 2005. Being able to selectively set your availability on chat to a certain group of your friends is key, in my opinion, to making this a better chat experience.

also, let’s face it. between gchat and aim, i feel covered. gchat is like my “a-list” while aim covers everyone else who i may need to get in immediate touch with at some point, but have no desire to talk to on a regular basis. as for the randoms who are currently online when i open that chat box…they can stay in facebookland where they belong. in other words, it’s a time to stalk, not to talk.

but who knows? in 3 months i may be eating my words…i used to hate the news-feed…and goat cheese too.

Regardless, I agree that the chat does have some time to go. A desktop application will be necessary and will likely cause use to increase significantly (at least for yours truly).

But when you compare it to how engaged Facebook users are otherwise, 4% becomes a very low figure. More than 50% of Facebook’s almost 70M users visit the site every single day.

In addition, 1M active users looks even weaker when you compare it to the engagement of some of Facebook’s top applications like FunWall and TopFriends, which get more than double 1M on a daily basis.