ICQ has released version 7 of its messenger client for Windows. With multi-protocol clients like Pidgin, displaying Facebook status messages or Twitter tweets is possible for a while; now ICQ has added this feature as well. The combination of Instant Messaging and Social Networking results in “Social Messaging,” ICQ stated.
The user does not integrate the social networks via the client software, but via a web front-end. ICQ currently connects to Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Delicious and Flickr. More networks will follow. If you want, the ICQ client can tweet your online status automatically.
According to the manufacturer, ICQ 7 is much faster and more lightweight than the previous version. In a first short test, we can confirm this. However, ICQ still requires the Adobe Flash runtime to be installed and displays flickery advertisement banners.