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Rumours suggest the social networking site has been trialling a web-based instant messaging service that will allow Facebook users to chat with the friends on their profiles, without needing to install a third-party application.

Rumours suggest the instant messaging service will be based on the Jabber open-source platform, which allows you to use all of your instant messaging accounts at once.

The benefits are obvious for Facebook, with instant messaging giving users something else to do on the site and hopefully maintaining user numbers at a time when critics are beginning to wonder if interest is already trailing off.

MySpace already operates its own instant messaging service with MySpaceIM, and AOL's recent acquisition of Bebo will undoubtedly see the social networking site adopting AIM at some point.