Facebook phone buzz grows stronger ahead of Thursday event BT Online Bureau

Though there has been a lot of speculation about a 'Facebook phone' in the past, the buzz has ringed stronger recently as the social media giant is scheduled to hold a media event on Thursday at its Menlo Park, California, headquarters.

Facebook has invited journalists to the unveiling of what it calls its "new home on Android." Facebook has not provided further details about the Thursday's event.

Tech blog TechCrunch, citing sources, says Facebook will launch a modified version of Android that embeds Facebook deeply into the operating system, on a phone made by HTC Corp.

More than half of Facebook's 1.06 billion monthly users access it on a mobile device. A deeper integration would help Facebook with its mobile aspirations. (With AP inputs)