How To: Enable the Hidden Facebook Chat and Notifications Feature in Firefox 17's Toolbar

As enjoyable as Facebook can be at times, it can also be a great distraction and even better deterrent of getting work done. A quick "Oh, let me check my notifications" can turn into hours and hours of Facebooking, and before you know it, you're already on your 7th Wikipedia page, all thanks to that status your friend posted.

The reason I mention this is because Firefox's new 17.0 update includes many features, but the one that's been making the rounds online is the integration of Facebook Messenger into the browser. This not only makes surfing the web much more quicker, it also helps in efficiency.

Time wasted on Facebook doesn't usually come from checking your notifications, but from reading all of the statuses that your friends post. With embedded notifications in Firefox, you're stripped of Facebook's busy interface and instead given a simple toolbar on the top right side of the browser that keeps you updated with notifications, messages and friend requests.

Instead of spending hours reading your friends thoughts and opinions, you'll get exactly what you'll need and maximize your time in the process.

How to Activate Firefox 17's Facebook Integration

In order to activate this service, you'll have to go to the URL address bar and type in:

about:config

Pressing enter should bring up a warning about a voided warranty, but just press "I'll be careful, I promise" (it's safe, don't worry). From there, you should be directed to the page below.

In the Search bar, type in "social" and you should see a setting that's titled "social.enabled". Double-click on this and it should turn the value of it from false to true.

This should automatically bring up a Facebook toolbar on the right-hand side. Log in with your information and you're done!

While no other browser has a built in Facebook feature at the moment, you can download extensions and add-ons for Safari and Chrome. You can even download an application that does this on your Mac!