If you’re like me, you hate social networking sites. But all of your friends use them, and they assure you that you absolutely HAVE to have one.

Well, I have a solution for those of you who are too lazy to actually keep up with a Facebook page. It’s called Pidgin.

Pidgin is a free program that combines your AIM, Yahoo Instant Messenger, MySpace IM, ICQ, Google Talk, and MSN (among other) chat programs into one. That means you’ll only have one buddy/friends list to manage, but you’ll be able to talk to all of your friends who use different chat programs. And you’ll only have to open one program. Isn’t that nice?

And I’m going to tell you how to set it up so your Facebook friends list appears inside Pidgin as a normal instant messenger program, so you don’t have to go to your Facebook profile or even open a web browser to talk to your Facebook friends.

So, here’s my quick little guide. I’ll separate them into the Ubuntu and Windows versions.

Part one: Windows users
First, you need to download and install Pidgin. Go to this site:
http://www.pidgin.im/download/windows/

And download it. Open the file and let it install.

Next, you’re going to need the Facebook plugin:
http://code.google.com/p/pidgin-facebookchat/downloads/list

Go there, and download the Windows version. It ought to be the second from the bottom. When it’s done downloading, open the file and let it install.

(Skip to part three to see how to set everything up. Part two is only for Ubuntu Linux users)

Part two: Ubuntu users

This is going to be a lot easier, since Pidgin is installed by default.
Go to Applications->Accessories->Terminal

When it opens, copy/paste the following line exactly as it appears and hit enter:
sudo apt-get install pidgin-facebookchat

It should ask you for your password. Type it in, and hit enter again. You’re done. Go to part three.

Part three: How to set it up
Open up Pidgin. It should prompt you with a box asking you to manage your accounts. Click the add button, and select Facebook (or AIM, or Yahoo, or whatever) from the menu. It will ask you for your email and password. Put them in, and tell it to remember them. It will now open up your Facebook IM account and let you talk with any of your Facebook friends who are online whenever you open up Pidgin. You can repeat the same process to get your AIM, Yahoo, ICQ, MySpace, and MSN friends on your list, too.

Now you can talk to your Facebook friends without ever actually having to go to Facebook, and you can also combine them with your friends list from your favorite instant messenger. It should be a hell of a lot more convenient than just hanging out on a web page all day long. If any of your Facebook friends IM you, it will appear in a Pidgin window and you’ll be ready to go.