Facebook Announcement: Video Calling, Other New Features

With the tease from Mark Zuckerberg that he would "launch something awesome" at 1 p.m. EST, Facebook users were introduced to a few new features today.

Chief among them is what Zuckerberg referred to as "video calling" during an announcement from Palo Alto. The chat system will combine with Skype to work as an application within Facebook; there won't be any separate download required.

Instead, you can just click the button on a friend's profile page and - presto! - a video call is initiated.

Not exactly ground-breaking, we know. But Facebook must soon compete with Google+, which has already announced its own video chatting service.

Two other features were also unveiled by the Facebook founder:

1. A group chat that will make it easy for groups of friends to talk online.
2. A new layout that will place a separate bar of friends (online and offline) on the side of browsers.

Are you excited for these additions to the social networking world?