It seems as if the search engine king is preparing to bundle is online chat software within its original social network, Orkut.

(Light Reading) The company says its Google Talk and Orkut development teams are busy putting the finishing touches on the integration. The announcement will likely be made sometime next week. [...]

“We noticed that a lot of people that were using Orkut also had their GTalk client open at the same time,” says Google spokeswoman Courtney Hohne.

Integrating Orkut within Gtalk is probably a smart move for Google, as the two features compliment each other very well. Although Google has already installed Gtalk within Gmail, Google Docs, etc., it lacks a community feel unlike other chat programs created by their rivals.

Launching a chat program within Orkut will not only help users feel more connected, but may also help Orkut within America as it has been struggling to gain ground on its home turf.

Despite failing in the US, Orkut has become increasingly popular within Brazil and India, with the site rivaling Google’s own search pages in Brazil and India (according to Alexa) respectively.

Although Google Talk is simple a basic chat program lacking most of the features of its rivals, Google’s placement of Gtalk within Orkut may have more implications than some realize. With Orkut already dominating in Brazilian and Indian markets (with the latter holding over a billion people) this may be Google’s way of positioning it’s “pawn” before upgrading it with Skype like features.

Either way, this is really good news for Orkut, which has been ignored by daddy Google for quite some time.