Is Facebook Testing Voice Chat? [PIC]

Facebook appears to be in the midst of testing voice chat with a number of its users, a feature that has been a rumored addition to the social networking site for some time.

Late last year, Facebook code was uncovered that included references to Skype and Skype user IDs. Facebook and Skype already have a partnership that tightly integrates Facebook within the VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) client, now not the other way around. Rumors of Facebook voice chat date back to 2009, after all, when the company was said to be working with startup Vivox on video chat capabilities.

The midst of rolling out its Messages product

Facebook is as well in the midst of rolling out its Messages product, a service that integrates e-mail, IM and texting in accordance with the Facebook umbrella and an @facebook.com address. One would assume at that time that VoIP calling would be a logical addition to what CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls a "modern messaging system."

Such a move would but again bring Facebook into close competition with Google, which has integrated voice calling in Gmail and made it free to make phone calls in the U.S. and Canada through 2011.