For months, maybe even years now you’ve been reading about how click-to-call VoIP services are gradually being integrated into Web sites to facilitate peer-to-peer voice communications between users. Well, this week that trend got ramped up a big notch when LiveJournal, one of the Internet’s leading online social communities hosting over 10 million users, integrated SIPphone’s Gizmo VoIP service into its Web site. LiveJournal claims it is the first major social networking site to adopt VoIP to facilitate instant live communications between users.

This means LiveJournal users can now call each other with just the click of the mouse. Users can also call mobile numbers, initiate conference calls and send instant messages using their existing LiveJournal account information. They can also record “voice posts” (pre-recorded messages) which can be accessed by other users when they are away from their machines. This will likely be an attractive feature for international callers who want to avoid long distance fees. Icons displayed on the LiveJournal Web site show the online “presence” of other users (i.e. whether they are available, away or offline).

“Social communities such as MySpace or LiveJournal must constantly innovate - to compete and to keep users,” said Jason Droege, president of SIPphone, in a press release. “Adding VoIP and IM services for everyone immediately takes the whole community to a new level. Today LiveJournal just beat everyone else to the punch.”

The service offers free calling between all Gizmo/LJ Talk and Gizmo Project users. In addition, users can send IMs to LJ Friends or anyone using a Jabber-based IM network, including GoogleTalk.

The introduction of VoIP on social networking sites brings up a variety of new issues - some good - some not so good. One positive aspect, for example, might be that it could serve as a deterrent for child predators and other social deviants. Think about it, if you’re a 16 year old and you don’t think the guy you’re texting is really 18, you can ask him to immediately call you and make a better determination based on his voice. Working on both the downside and the upside is the fact that users can record calls “on the fly,” and start recording in mid-conversation without other parties being aware of it. (Frame your friends!) Then there’s the whole “vishing” thing, where scammers use pretexting to gain access to your personal information (keep in mind that SIPhone’s Gizmo service is SIP-based, and therefore non-proprietary, and therefore hack-able). All of this has to make one ask, “does the introduction of VoIP make social networking sites safer … or not?”

And then there are huge ramifications for the big telcos. If Web sites start putting free “click to call” services all over the Internet and consumers start getting used to making calls on their PCs, what impact will that have on the major carriers (who already have their own VoIP woes, as they ravage their traditional phone service customer base by switching people over to low-cost VoIP services)? And what about the hundreds of smaller-sized VoIP service providers who are looking to get a piece of the consumer VoIP pie? Will only the ones which have signed deals with the major Web sites prevail? (Keep in mind that all LJ users will end up becoming Gizmo users by design.) And what about the impact of call volume on the Internet? Will putting free VoIP and IM everywhere clog the Internet’s “tubes,” as some have prophesized. (If so, then the big telcos really have won the net neutrality war …and here come the tiers!)

One thing is for certain: the introduction of Gizmo VoIP on LiveJournal will do much to spread awareness and boost adoption of VoIP services among consumers (ummm, that is if the service delivers “high quality” signals, as SIPphone claims it does).

“We’re very excited to work with a partner who supports open standards such as Jabber (XMPP) and SIP,” said Brad Fitzpatrick, LiveJournal founder and chief architect, Six Apart. “The Internet needs more companies like SIPphone who understand that interoperability is the key to breeding creative and surprising solutions. Gizmo Project for LJ Talk is an example of such a solution.”

“Both of our companies have worked hard to make the integration smooth and powerful,” Fitzpatrick added. “Users will benefit from having both voice and IM capabilities, and LiveJournal is excited to be able to keep building on this, providing ever more features on top of this platform.”

And you can be sure that instant video communications are on the way ….

If you’re a LiveJournal user, you can download the Gizmo software at www.livejournal.com/chat/download.

For more information about SIPphone and the Gizmo Project, visit www.sipphone.com or http://gizmoproject.com.

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Patrick Barnard is Associate Editor for TMCnet and a columnist covering the telecom industry. To see more of his articles, please visit Patrick Barnard’s columnist page.