The Facebook Messenger app has been integrated right into Mozilla’s Firefox browser. ValueWalk reported on the Firefox beta test for the feature last month, but today Mozilla made the addition official.
Mozilla has integrated the Facebook Messenger app into its Social API, allowing users of the Firefox web browser to chat with Facebook friends even when they are not actually on the site. Those who use Firefox already should find that the browser has updated itself.
Those who are not regular Firefox users but want to try the new Firefox feature must install Firefox 17, go to the page for Facebook Messenger for Firefox, and turn the feature on. That inserts a social sidebar on all pages browsed through Firefox. The sidebar shows Facebook Chat, new comments and updates, photo tags, friend updates, and message notifications.
A spokesperson for Mozilla said the integration with Facebook is just the first step in their goal of making the Firefox web browser more social. The company said it intends to add more providers and features to its social API in the near future.
Developers of other social networks are currently experimenting with the social API, so we could soon see Google+, Twitter, and other social networking sites also built into Firefox’s social API. Also, since Google and Mozilla share APIs, we could even see some of these social features be added to Google Chrome.
Mozilla isn’t the only company trying to find new ways to make the entire web experience more social. Bing has experimented with adding customized social media content from sites like Foursquare, Twitter, and Facebook to web searches.
