Facebook Rumoured To Be Working On VoIP Service

A number of users discovered that a call button appeared on friends user profiles along with the options to chat, poke and send a message. When the call button was pressed a dialogue box opened saying "calling [friend name]". The option to all appearances disappeared soon afterwards.

The news of a potential VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) service follows reports last year that Skype been referenced numerous times in Facebook code and that the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) provider had integrated the social network into an upgrade. It is unknown whether or not these tests mean the two companies are working jointly on bringing VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) to the service, or if Facebook is working independently on the project.

According to Inside Facebook, now, the company has recently removed a job listing for a Voice Network Engineer, suggesting that this may be an in-house project.

The move to bring a Skype-like service to the site could as well be the latest challenge to Google by the social network - who’s own VoIP service Google Voice has proved popular. The two companies clashed last year over competing e-mail services.