[UGC] Current Events – Facebook Email

Well, it is quite clear that what they are trying to do is to drive as much traffic as possible, keep people as long as possible inside the FB universe and gather as much data as possible. It will definitely have a positive impact in revenues (more clicks, more relevancy) and probably in profitability as well. Seems a good strategy to me. Actually, i don’t know why it took them so long to do it.
Now, am i going to use it? NO. At least not in the near future. First of all, I am not a heavy facebook user, checking it only a few times a week and not many times a day. Secondly, they are not going to have a technology as good as gmail for a looooong time… i regularly spot a bunch of bugs in their site and expect their email functionality to have the same problem for a while.
But again, i’m almost 32 and don’t see facebook the same way the guys in their early twenties do…
Anyways, I think it still has a decent chance to be a hit.

I currently have all my facebook notifications/messages filtered in gmail through a label, and I would say 80% of it is junk.

Facebook is pretty liberal with its messaging. I think if you were simply invited to an event or group, you will receive its email. This is extremely annoying as many student groups utilize this to blast mass audiences.

I think this is a strategic move in controlling even a larger percentage of people’s time on the web. They know people already spend a lot of time on email and facebook, and if they could get people to do it all in one place, they would have better control of the ecosystem and INFORMATION. More information is always good for their targeted ads strategy.

I can’t see this working out for FB.

There’s a high cost of switching when you change your email provider. Transferring mail, updating your contacts about your new address, etc. This means FB needs to not only match the Gmail experience, but also top it. Extremely unlikely.

Also, Zuckerberg is the “anti-privacy” guy. We all have enough hesitations over Google’s text ads – I certainly don’t trust Zuckerberg with my email data.

I get the idea with them wanting to keep people in their ecosystem. Also, interesting ideas by Yujin above to pull in more communication functionality. Would be a good move for them if it were possible, but I don’t think they’ll be able to pull it off.

I remember one comment from Jerry Yang.
What facebook tries to do is to become the ultimate designation/portal site. Previously, people open up their browser and go to yahoo. now people open up their browser and go to facebook.

The facebook email is one tactic they choose to transform its role form a social website to a full fledge online destination.

One bit of information I have heard is that Facebook is planning on eliminating private messages as they stand (they’ll either become public or be a form of the current wall posts).

I only resort to Facebook messaging (and I say “resort” because it’s informal and has no formatting options) when I don’t have the email address of someone. If Facebook eliminates private messages and offers email services, the amount of private messages I send will increase drastically.

Facebook would also have to drastically step up its contact management and interface. It’s currently extremely difficult to sort through friends, and they have been steering away from advanced search options (you can’t even search within your friends for English majors, for example). Lists of friends are displayed in a bulky interface that loads slowly. And let’s not even get started with how inconvenient the chat list is.

(The other issue of cost that Corey brings up is obviously crucial, though I’m quite unfamiliar with it.)

So now Gmail wants to go in the opposite direction? http://bit.ly/cpHqQS

I am not a heavy facebook user, though I do have a couple hundred friends. I would say that I will at least take a look at this. Right now I am using Yahoo, through Outlook, and I have to say, it is really inconvenient trying to make address books work, here, and then in addition syncing them across to a blackberry (not to mention wharton address book).

The result is that I essentially have an empty address book that slowly builds up as I have to track down email address. If Facebook is careful to keep it quality, makes sure that it is not tightly integrated yet separate from the main facebook GUI, it might work. To me the value add is to be able to email anyone in my group of friends without having to know addresses, type it into an address book, or log into facebook. One step in the direction of everybody on earth having a one unique address that exists across all networks (phone included)

It would be great if one could send a msg to all of ones fans via their inbox- will this ever happen?