One of the biggest complaints about chat in social networking is that you have to be logged into the social network to use it. But this can be inconvenient – users may want to log out of the site or concentrate on using their browser for other things, or want something that can run in the background. Chat programs, such as Chit-chat for Facebook can help.
FB Messenger Application
The best solutions are stand-alone or bundled chat programs and one of the best FB Chat apps on the market is Chit Chat for Facebook – it’s also free.
Chit Chat for Facebook is a program that you can install on your Windows based PC to allow you to chat with Facebook without needing to leave your browser pointed at Facebook. It has some great features, but at the same time, it has some drawbacks.
Features of Chit Chat
Chit chat for Facebook is a no bells and whistles piece of software that allows you to chat online without leaving your browser pointing to Facebook. Its functionality is exactly what you’d expect of a chat program, though, in testing, I did find it slightly slow to respond.
Pros:
- It has a clutter free interface – it’s easy to see who is online, and who is, at least provisionally available to chat.
- The options are clear, giving you fine grain control over important stuff like disabling emoticons or enabling other options, such as time stamping.
- The offline/online boxes are minimal, and the colour scheme isn’t bad either – it’s noticeable without being too distracting and ‘in your face’.
Cons:
- It’s online/offline only – you can’t see whether people are idle, which would be a good thing to see.
- Facebook seems to slow down slightly – perhaps because your chat is logged in twice?
Feature rating
- Ease of install – easy – 4/5
- Features – this is advertised as a “no bells and whistles” project – so again, 4/5 stars – there are some crucial items missing that would make it a five, such as idle status for friends.
- Ease of Use – 5/5 stars. I loved that the chat interface was very clean and easy to follow – and easily ‘stacked’ chat into one window, allowing you to switch between them by clicking on tabs – much like other interfaces. As it was so familiar, I can’t rate it down.
- Ease of Uninstall –5/5 stars.
Overall 18/20
This is a solid contender for ‘stand-alone’ chat on Facebook; this is a great piece of software. It will allow you to chat to friends, without staying logged into Facebook, but is missing the crucial ‘idle status notifications’ that would make it almost perfect.