XMPP might sound like a foreign language to you, but the extensible messaging and presence protocol was developed by Jabber and it's the technology that powers many popular instant messenger clients.
Today we're learning from Process One that Facebook is readying an XMPP connection interface that would make it possible for you to use Facebook Chat with any XMPP/Jabber clients. In a nutshell, that means you soon might be able to use Facebook Chat within Google Talk and iChat.
Once Facebook opens the doors to XMPP, each of the social network's more than 300 million members will be able to chat with their Facebook friends in third-party applications. Of course, all the other Facebook goodies come with it too, so you'll be able to see when you're Facebook friends are online, set your Facebook status, and even view friends' profile photos.
While Facebook has previously teased their intentions to support XMPP, Process One believes they found proof that the release is right around the corner. According to their report, "It now seems the launch is close as the XMPP software stack has been deployed on chat.facebook.com, as our bot at IMtrends have found out: chat.facebook.com on IMtrends."
Although, you can already chat with your Facebook friends in all-in-one IM services like Meebo and Digsby (also powered by XMPP), the new feature from Facebook would bring Facebook Chat outside of Facebook to the masses.
[via The Next Web]