14 DAY TRIAL // Google is not the only one betting on VoIP communications. Facebook is apparently testing a voice call feature from inside the site which would compete directly with Gmail's voice chat feature and the myriad of other web voice call services out there. There aren't any details and all we have for now is a screenshot, but the move may be in partnership with Skype.
One of the touted new features in Skype 5.0 was the Facebook integration. Users can now access their Facebook friends as well as their News Feed from the Skype client.
But the initial rumors talked about a deeper integration between the two services. In fact, there were some indications later on that Facebook was testing a video chat feature, also possibly powered by Skype.
Now, some users are reporting seeing a "Call" button next to the regular Chat, Send Message and Poke on users' profiles. Clicking on it will display a "Calling friend" dialog.
That are all the details we have for now, but the popular opinion seems to be that this is somehow related to a Skype partnership. From the looks of it, it's all handled by Facebook, so if Skype is involved it's powering everything under the hood.
Leveraging Skype's existing infrastructure would make sense since handling voice communications for 600 million users would be a daunting task even for Facebook.
A couple of months ago, there was some evidence that Facebook was also testing video chat. Skype already provides a powerful voice chat feature and combining Facebook's huge user base with Skype's existing technology makes plenty of sense.
Still, this may have nothing to do with Skype whatsoever and there's now way to know until the two companies start saying something officially. Neither Facebook or Skype would comment on the latest rumor.