newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

MySpace (remember them?) founder Tom Anderson has his own thoughts about the battle between social network, Facebook, and new contender, search engine Google.

Anderson was referring to Facebook’s announcement last week that they were adding Skype video conversations. According to PCMag.com, Anderson said MySpace had one on one video chatting in 2004, and had Skype video calls in 2007.

“People weren't ready for it back then—now is the time, and FB has the userbase," Anderson said.

CNN reports the Facebook version of Skype will appear as a "call" button at the top of users' profile pages. By clicking that or finding someone in a new "buddy list" bar on the right, Facebook users with webcams can have visual conversations. Facebook added the new service for millions of users on Wednesday and plans to add it to more in time.

The New York Times mentions that Facebook doesn’t let more than two participate in video chats. Skype has group chats, but it costs users $9 per month. Facebook does warn users that some computers may have hardware or software compatibility issues with the service.

Tom Anderson’s last post on MySpace was on March 1.

On his Facebook page, which seems wrong, he said, “I started MySpace in 2003, it sold in 2005 to NewsCorp for $580 million, and I stayed there to run it until April 2009. Now a new owner bought MySpace from News Corp. I'm not a fan of the new MySpace, though the team's heart was in the right place. Maybe the new owner has good ideas."

According to startribune.com, Skype is taking a calculated risk to expand its user base. Getting access to Facebook's 750 million users would lift Skype, which has about 170 million regular users.

Skype is also considering starting paid services on Facebook, like the ability to call any phone while using Facebook.