Facebook wants to make it easier for its users to see each others' faces. The company, as expected, introduced integrated Video Calling, along with Group Chat and a new chat interface design.

Facebook Video Calling, powered by a compact Skype plug-in, allows users to launch a video chat session with one other person using only two clicks. Because the plug-in is downloaded on-demand, with a single permission request, users can initiate video calls and recipients can answer without pre-installing Skype's software.

This approach does away with a traditional barrier to the growth and adoption of software-based services, on both the Web and the desktop--the need to install and maintain software.

"The majority of users don't want to take the time to configure this stuff themselves," said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to the group of journalists who had come to Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto, Calif., to see what had been billed as the introduction of "something awesome."