With Firefox"s web browser market share losing out to both Internet Explorer and Chrome, the folks at Mozilla are clearly trying to stem the tide by offering some additional features to gain some new users. Today, the company announced the launch of Facebook Messenger for Firefox.
In a blog post, Mozilla said that they have been experimenting with the integration of social networking features into Firefox and this new launch represents the first such support for the web browser. The video above shows how the feature can be enabled, which requires both the current version of Firefox to be installed as well as a visit to the official Facebook Messenger for Firefox page. The blog adds:
Once you enable the feature, you’ll get a social sidebar with your Facebook chat and updates, like new comments and photo tags. You’ll also get notifications for messages, friend requests and more that you can respond to right from your Firefox toolbar.
The Facebook website offers up some more technical details on how Facebook Messenger for Firefox was created. Mozilla has created what it calls its SocialAPI which Facebook worked with to help create the Messenger feature for Firefox. Facebook stated:
Mozilla built out the SocialAPI to enable a series of new features to make the experience feel truly integrated, including embedded jewels, ticker stream flyout panels and browser-provided chat tabs.
Facebook previously launched a stand alone Messenger client for Android and iOS platforms in 2011. In 2012, the company launched the Windows 7 Messenger program, and later added support for Windows XP and Vista.
Source: Mozilla blog