Facebook may launch Skype-powered video chat

Social networking site Facebook is planning to launch a video chat function next week for its millions of users in association with Skype, says a report.

"Facebook will launch a new video chat product, powered by Skype, that works in browser," technology blog TechCrunch said citing a source.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg last week tipped off press that the company would be launching an "awesome" new product next week that has been built by Facebook's Seattle team.

However, the press invitations to the event did not disclose anything more than "please join us for an event at Facebook on July 6."

The partnership could substantially increase Skype usage, which currently has 170 million users.

In addition, the move would "certainly help Facebook become even stickier for users as they start to have voice and video chat as an option to communicate." It has more than 750 million active users.

The report said that product has been built on Skype and will include a desktop component.

However, it's not clear whether it will work if a user has already installed Skype on the computer, or if additional software will need to be downloaded even if the user already uses Skype.

The social networking site has been introducing various services in order to capture more online users. For instance, it has launched a new payment system -- Facebook Credit -- in India