If Nokia (NYSE: NOK) were on Facebook, perhaps its relationship status would be “it’s complicated.” The WSJ is reporting today that the two companies have been in negotiations for months and at this point it is completely up in the air as to whether Nokia will opt to team up with established social networks, like Facebook (which now has a reported appraisal of $3.7 billion), or build its own applications from scratch. The WSJ, which references anonymous sources, said very few details were available, and it is unknown what the financial terms are or how many Nokia devices would be affected.

Since Nokia already does integrate Facebook quite a bit into its newer phones, we are assuming these talks would lead to a much deeper relationship. For instance, Nokia’s XpressMusic 5800 allows people to view friend’s social network updates right on the start screen. One outcome from a partnership, may be that Facebook would be integrated into the contact list, so you could see if friends were logged on and be able to send messages and post comments to their pages directly from the address book. Facebook already works with a number of handset makers, like BlackBerry and Apple (NSDQ: AAPL), so this wouldn’t be a radical shift for them. In fact, the plans outlined in the story, sound an awful lot like what will be available on the new Palm (NSDQ: PALM) Pre.

As for whether Nokia should partner with Facebook, or build a social network of their own, it might be nice for once to see a well-known name for one of its services. Sure, it’s the largest handset maker in the world and it can leverage its install base to create a social network of its own, but a little brand recognition might go a long way. It’s already relying on its Ovi services, which duplicate a number of established online services, like music, email, mapping, photo sharing and more. That may work in developing countries where the phone will be the first way people interact with the Internet, but in countries, like the U.S., where they’ve had a more difficult time gaining marketshare, they better have a Plan B.

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