Apple introduced a new messaging app, Messages, coinciding with the release of OS X Lion. Messages, which replaces iChat, has been designed to integrate Apple’s iMessage service across its desktop, portable and mobile devices.
OS X and Facebook both have great messaging systems, but wouldn’t it be great if they would work together? In this tutorial, I'll show you how to set up Messages app, on your Mac, to work with Facebook chat so that you can keep your Facebook conversation going outside of the web browser.
1. Find Your Facebook Username
Before starting to configure the Messages App, you'll need to know your Facebook username. If you do not know your username, open your favorite browser, log in to Facebook using your credentials and go to your profile page.
Now copy your.Facebook.Username from the URL top bar of your browser. The image below shows you where you can find the username.
2. Configure Messages
Now that you have your Facebook username it's time to configure Facebook Chat on Messages. Follow the steps below to complete the process.
Step 1
First, launch the Messages App from your Application folder of your Mac and open the Preferences panel (Messages > Preferences).
Step 2
Inside the Preferences panel now select the Account tab. In the left side of panel you can find a list of your accounts previously set. Click on the + button to add a new one.
Step 3
Clicking on the + button a new pop-up window appears. You can now configure a new account to start chatting with your Facebook friends. To complete all fields correctly you have to:
- Select Jabber from the Account Type list.
- Complete the Account Name field with your.Facebook.username@chat.facebook.com
- Complete the Password field with your Facebook password.
Confirm the process clicking the Done button.
Step 4
Close the Preferences panel and wait a few seconds until the Jabber status changes to Available. Once the connection is made you are ready to start your first Facebook chat from Messages.
An interesting feature is when you start typing a name of your friends. Messages searches all of your Facebook contacts and makes suggestions as to the person for whom you are searching.
That's it!
By successfully following those few simples steps, you should now be able to chat with Facebook friends using the Messages app. Whilst Apple has integrated Facebook into the latest major releases of OS X, it has not included all of the features available in Facebook. The chat feature is one of most important.
As Facebook uses Jabber technology, for its instant messages service, it is possibile to configure Facebook chat on any Mac Application that has Jabber support. In this Quick tip, I've shown you how to configure the Messages App for Facebook chat; you can easly adapt all steps above with another instant messages client that includes Jabber protocols. Let me know, in the comments below, how you get on.
