Facebook’s new video service gives journalists an alternative way to record quality audio for radio broadcasts and podcasts.

You will only be able to call your Facebook friends, so it will no doubt have limits for journalists who prefer to keep their Facebook profiles private and as a space for friends rather than professional contacts.

This is where Google+ (plus) could be useful, which has a video viewer, plus the option of group video chats allowing you to create a group discussion for a podcast and record it. There are details of how to record audio using Google+ in this post and details of how to record from Skype in this post.

To record quality audio using Facebook:

1. Download Audio Hijack Pro for Macs (there is a free trial version) or try a recorder for Windows;

2. Download video calling for Facebook by clicking here;

3. Make sure you are friends with the person you want to call, that you can see a green button beside their name and click the video logo. They will have to go through the one-time install for the video recorder if they have not already done so;

4. Select the ‘default system input’ button in Audio Hijack and click record;

5. You can then view and edit the MP3 or AIFF file.