Accessing Facebook Directly From Skype, and Vice-Versa

Skype's new release, Skype 5.0, came with Facebook integration, meaning you can access your Facebook account directly from the new Skype application interface. Are also integrated several features that favor unified communications. You can for instance make calls to your Facebook contacts directly from your Skype application if they have their phone numbers in their profiles, using your SkypeOut credit. You can make free calls if your buddies have a Skype account and are receiving the calls from within their Skype application on the other end. You can do things the other way round too, i.e. sign in your Skype account on Facebook.

What else can you do apart from calls? You can see your Facebook news feed in Skype, post status updates that can be synced with your Skype mood message, comment on friends' updates and post and 'like' them, and send SMS to them.

The Skype-Facebook integration seems to be aiming at some complementarity from both sides. Skype needed to develop a more social dimension and Facebook had some grounds to cover in terms of communication. I used to think that Facebook would come up with something like an embedded VoIP application or plugin (If I was behind Facebook, I'd seriously consider that), and that Skype would work its half-a-billion user base into something more social with some better and richer interface. You can download Skype 5.0 from there.