One of the most popular features of Facebook is the chat tool used by friends to “talk” to each other while they’re logged in at the same time no matter where they may be. This feature is found on the lower right side of the Facebook Layout where a blue-background bar is labelled “Chat”. On this bar you will know if you are online or offline for chatting. A box gives a list of friends who are available online for chatting. You are given the option of minimizing the Facebook Chat bar by clicking on it. Clicking on it will also give you the option of making yourself unavailable for chatting. Interestingly one can also log in and out of Facebook Chat using either an iPhone or Windows Live.
Despite the popularity of Facebook Chat, however, some users have had problems with it since April 2008 when this feature was put into use. Coupled with this have been the ever changing Facebook backgrounds through the years. And now that Facebook is facing tough competition from the new Google Plus social networking site, the changes in Facebook features and layout continues.
Facebook chat problems have included the features within the chat tool such as the list of friends who are online for chatting. The problem here is that the list includes friends who are offline. An online friend is identified by a green bullet after the name while those offline don’t have this identification; they’re just listed there. Some users don’t like this especially if the list is long. They consider scrolling down a long list of names a Facebook chat problem, although it allows you to send a message to an offline friend who gets alerted of your message when he or she logs in.
Another Facebook chat problem is that, previously, the messages between two friends who chatted were saved for a number of days before deletion, but now these are saved in the Messages inbox. This way you can read older messages and continue your conversation from where you left off. But there are some users who want this removed because they don’t want to keep a record of their private messages.
Although the Facebook chat tool has seen a number of changes for the better, some users are bothered by the changes because they want to stick to what they already know and don’t want to learn another new thing. An example is that in the early years of the Facebook Chat you did not have the option of being unavailable for chatting while you’re logged in. But now you can choose to hide yourself if you don’t want your friends to see you. Another feature is that you can now make yourself available for chatting to only selected friends.
But in spite of the positive changes in the chat tool, there are Facebook users who oppose any development for whatever reason. It probably just shows that not all can be pleased. Of course, like it or not, all Facebook users have to keep up to date with the changes to be able to make full use of the tool. This also holds true to the ever-changing Facebook Layout and its features.
Just recently quite a lot of changes in Facebook took place, which came about not surprisingly after the introduction of Google Plus. Unfortunately the changes occurred one after the other over a period of some days, which troubled some users who were taken aback by the new features without warning, although there were reports of the changes to be made. Some of the big changes include the Ticker feature found on the right side of the Facebook Layout in which you are alerted of what your online friends just did such as updating a status or commenting on a post. Photos also now appear larger when they appear on the wall. And you can make specialized lists of your friends such that you may now group your officemates or high school classmates into one so that when you want only them to see a post on your wall you can have this option.
More changes on Facebook are expected as social networking sites try to outdo each other. And if there will be another change on the chat tool there would likely be users who will find Facebook chat problems. You can actually read the comments of critics on several online sites, for or against, and from these you can learn about the changes every now and then. Why, you can also join the exhange of ideas! But just how many are for or against can’t just be determined. Perhaps the silent majority is the one giving the thumbs up or thumbs down with their silence. So, how about chipping in your idea and see what reaction it will elicit?