Watch out Google+, the original social networking goliath isn't about to get KO'd by some circles, hangouts, and sparks. Today Facebook announced a smarter sidebar, group chat, and integrated video conferencing. Some of it's available today, and some of it's on layawaythat is, unless you know how to join early. Here's what you need to know about today's announcements.

Smarter Sidebar and Group Chat

Last winter Facebook rolled out a that threaded together messages, chats, texts, and emails. Today they're making it smarter. You already have a sidebar that features your most frequent chat buddies; now it'll scale to size of your browser window.

The other addition is group chat. When it comes to planning your next happy hour, Facebook won't keep you thirsty. You can start with a conversation with one friend and bring more pals into the mix by clicking "Add Friends to Chat." Facebook even archives the entire multi-threaded conversation in Messages.

Video Conferencing

We think , but it's only as useful as it is accessible. After , Facebook is repaying the favor by integrating Skype video calling directly into its Chat. This means that you have all your friends (or at least 750 million of them) corralled into one place. Because it's built into Chat, the process is simple: Just as you'd initiate a new chat, click a friend's name; when the window appears, click the new camera icon to initiate a video call. Of course, like any good announcement, it's not available yet. Howeverand this is a big howeverif you click over to this link you can get it now, though you will have to run a quick installer when you launch that first video conference.

Closer Looks

For a closer look at Facebook's video conferencing, check out our In our first look at the service we walk-through the process of finding it, setting it up, and using it to video call in both windowed and full-screen mode. We'll have more on Facebook Group Chat soon, so stay tuned.