You’ve Got Facebook-Mail!
If you haven’t heard this before, this might surprise you: Facebook, the popular social networking site, is likely to roll out its very own email services! Facebook is following the footsteps of email “giants” like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail and Gmail by launching its very own email services. The rumour and speculations seem to be coming to an end as the news broke out recently.
So what does it entail for Facebook users? Well, for sure, Facebook hopes to position its email service as a unique product that is integrated with its current social networking services. It will not be a surprise to know that you can update your Facebook status as you are typing your email. We haven’t tried the Facebook email yet, but there is certainly a lot of anticipation going on. Think of it as a modern-day smartphone that allows you to not just send messages and make calls (what phones are essentially meant to do), but also take pictures using its integrated camera, get connected to the Internet, etc.
The above is, of course, just a metaphor to suggest that Facebook is now fast adopting the powers of “integration”. If updating of your status (like Twitter), or posting of your photos are not enough, the email function will certainly keep you glued to your Facebook screen with this ability to email out to your Facebook fans at the same time. Are the other email providers like Gmail under imminent threat, though?
Well, Gmail, ranked among the top three email providers on the Internet, is certainly not an easily beaten, in our opinion. We have grown so accustomed to the array of products affliated to Gmail, like the AdSense, Google Docs, Calendar, etc. And for sure, email is not just, in the literal sense of the word, electronic mail. Google’s Gmail now has so many “tools” integrated into it that you don’t need to go elsewhere for scheduling, networking (by creating a buzz), and of course, “googling” – all within the Gmail screen.
While we can already anticipate the flurry of excitement among Facebook users – knowing that networking comes combined with convenient email services – we have mixed views on Facebook’s latest extension.
Facebook has certainly got to show more of its “charm” by being not just another full-fledged “Twitter”. If not, I don’t see any possibility in the near future that I might click the “quit” button on Gmail.
Oh, and did I mention Gmail is a common platform for official work-related email accounts as well? Can you imagine if I’m sending an email via my Facebook account even for work? Hmm… that doesn’t sound official somehow.
