Mozilla today announced that it has started experimenting with a new social feature inside the Firefox web browser via the Social API announced in July, and the first to join is Facebook. The Social API will integrate social features directly into the Firefox browser. Things like sharing, chatting and keeping tab with new updates will all be possible from the sidebar without having to keep Facebook open in another tab. While Facebook integration using third party add-ons is already possible this is the first time a browser company has tried to integrate social media natively into their browsers. (Well, there is Rockmelt).
With Facebook Messenger, users will be able to access Facebook chat directly from the sidebar without having Facebook open in a tab. Users also get the ability to share the page they’re visiting with a single click in the address bar. Additionally, Facebook Messenger will alert users of new notifications, updates and emails. Needless to say, Facebook Messenger is for those whose lives practically revolve around Facebook, but Mozilla expects more services to join in shortly.
“The Social API isn’t provider-specific, though. We want to build a social standard for the Web, much like we did with our work on OpenSearch,” wrote Mozilla in their blog.
To get started just upgrade to the latest Firefox Beta and then visit this link.
When Facebook offers you Firefox integration, click on the “Turn on” button and you should see a set of Facebook icon in the browser’s toolbar. Click on it to enable the sidebar.
Use the login button on Sidebar to sign into Facebook and the sidebar will populate with all your friends. The sidebar is similar in looks and function to the sidebar in Facebook. The upper half showing latest updates from friends and the lower half functioning as a messenger.
The Facebook buttons in the toolbar allows you to toggle view of the sidebar and desktop notifications. Friends request and all notifications are showed right on the icon.
“We think we’ve built something really cool,” Mozilla prides itself. Facebook fans should be pleased with the new update.
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