Facebook is still slowly rolling out its long anticipated chat feature, but that hasn't stopped the social network from introducing a new option that puts it in direct competition with "lifestreaming" sites like FriendFeed.

Facebook users can now import their activities from other websites -- such as Flickr, Yelp, Picasa and del.icio.us -- directly into their mini feeds, allowing the information to show up in their profiles. Those four sites are the only ones available, but a post on the Facebook blog promises that Digg and other sites will be included soon.

The new feature is similar to FriendFeed, a service that provides updates of what friends post on YouTube, upload to Flikr or read on Digg. However, Sarah Perez at ReadWriteWeb said Facebook's new feature is bare-bones and "pales in comparison with its competitors."

New features aside, a debate continues to rage over whether or not social networks are actually profitable.