Appletell

Facebook chat is a little awkward… it’s stuck in the browser, and even if popped out, it still runs in Safari. By closing the window, or moving to a new tab, you close your chat. Fortunately, Mac OS X makes it easy to run Facebook Chat separately from Safari. Here are the two easiest ways:

Web Clip in Dashboard
Simply navigate to Facebook, use the chat menu to pop out the chat in a new window, and choose “File > Open in Dashboard.” Then, arrange it as you please. I chose to make only my buddy list visible, so I can easily check who is online before starting to chat. When I wanted to chat, I either went to Facebook, or resized the widget to show the chat.

Fluid.app
This method is the better one for someone who wants to do heavier-duty chatting. First, download the free and awesome Fluid.app at http://fluidapp.com.  Then, launch Fluid, and type the following address into the field:

http://facebook.com/presence/popout.php

Give it a name like “Facebook Chat,” and save it. There you go! You now have a native Facebook Chat application.