Wednesday was supposed to be “Awesome”. ‘Zuck’ promised. Facebook, still smarting from the recent beta release (and positive feedback) of the Google + social network, scheduled a press conference to announce some game-changing upgrades to the FB platform.

Or so we thought.

It turns out that thousands of social media types tuned in to watch as Mark Zuckerburg and the Facebook boys came out and introduced Group Chat and Video Calls.

Neither of which can be used by marketers to serve their clients.

Both of which are already available in some way, shape, or form in many Google products (including Gmail and Plus).

As a matter of fact, as Mashable reports, Myspace released in browser,Skype-powered calls nearly 5 years ago! According to Mashable’s interview with the infamous Tom Anderson (everyone’s friend on MySpace)“The point is that people weren’t really ready for it back then,” .

Fair enough, but perhaps ‘Zuck’ should learn the difference between a “press release” and a “press conference”. These “innovations” are definitely moreso a reaction to Google + than anything mind blowing.

Is innovation dead at Facebook? Can you think of any truly innovative features that have rolled out from the the “boys in blue” recently? Let’s take a look:

Video calling – already available with MySpace, Gmail, Google+, and even via their partner, Skype.
Facebook mail – email clients are a dime a dozen (Gmail, Hotmail,Ymail, etc.)
Facebook checkins – FourSquare, Google Latitude, etc…already over saturated market
Facebook deals – see Groupon, Living Social, WhereYouShop, and (seemingly)a million others

Could this be the turning point for Facebook? Or the beginning of their descent? As they say in business, “You either innovate or die”…