AfterDawn: News

Facebook ready to unveil e-mail?

Multiple sources are reporting today that Facebook is set to unveil an e-mail service, one that will be instantly available to all 500 million members of the social networking giant.

If every current member signs up for an account, Facebook would leap into the top spot for email providers, surpassing Microsoft, who has 361 million users of Hotmail and Live. Yahoo is in second with 273 million, followed by Google's Gmail at 193 million.



The company has invited the press to a "significant" announcement on Monday, where it will unveil an alelged "Gmail killer."

An analyst with Gartner said this: "There is a huge opportunity for these guys to fundamentally change the nature of e-mail."

The analyst says the Facebook system could likely prioritize emails based on closeness to the sender, or make email exchanges into a conversation between a number of users, turning the "dinosaur" that is email into a social service.

We will be reporting on the situation on Monday.

Written by: Andre Yoskowitz @ 13 Nov 2010 0:18

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• 10 comments

• dannyboy22

  Oh boy. Will the facebook email go down all the time, and randomly dissapear, like facebook does? I doubt facebook is ready to provide a service people actually count on.

  13.11.2010 01:50 #1

• i1der

  Quote:The analyst says the Facebook system could likely prioritize emails based on closeness to the sender, or make email exchanges into a conversation between a number of users, turning the "dinosaur" that is email into a social service.
  already done by gmail... i don't think i need another email, this is kinda of late in game, Google world has taking me over :p
  

  
  

  13.11.2010 01:52 #2

• kumasta (unverified)

  I will sign it up to see how it looks. Unless it is really superb, I dont think I will switch from Gmail.
  Anyway I love surprises..dont be another Bing!

  13.11.2010 02:03 #3

• KillerBug

  Originally posted by i1der: Quote:The analyst says the Facebook system could likely prioritize emails based on closeness to the sender, or make email exchanges into a conversation between a number of users, turning the "dinosaur" that is email into a social service.
  already done by gmail... i don't think i need another email, this is kinda of late in game, Google world has taking me over :p ...and it is the biggest user complaint about gmail. What a pain in the butt...delete one email that just says, "LoL" and suddenly every email that you have gotten from that person in the last month disappears. You can't even turn the crap off without switching to an external client. They even extended it to the gmail app on android.
  
  ...Now facebook wants to copy this? Has no one at facebook ever had a gmail account?
  
  Something tells me that they are just doing this to get the "most email addresses" title...given their lack of commitment to choice and security, I am sure that every facebook user will get an account automatically. It will probably even generate accounts for users that have closed their accounts, and are just waiting the 30-90 days for the account to actually close. Of course, it won't close because the account will reactivate every time an email is received. Thus making the extremely long and difficult process of closing a facebook account completely impossible. Is it any wonder they have so many "Users"?
  

  13.11.2010 04:39 #4

• DXR88

  Originally posted by KillerBug: Originally posted by i1der: Quote:The analyst says the Facebook system could likely prioritize emails based on closeness to the sender, or make email exchanges into a conversation between a number of users, turning the "dinosaur" that is email into a social service.
  already done by gmail... i don't think i need another email, this is kinda of late in game, Google world has taking me over :p ...and it is the biggest user complaint about gmail. What a pain in the butt...delete one email that just says, "LoL" and suddenly every email that you have gotten from that person in the last month disappears. You can't even turn the crap off without switching to an external client. They even extended it to the gmail app on android.
  
  ...Now facebook wants to copy this? Has no one at facebook ever had a gmail account?
  
  Something tells me that they are just doing this to get the "most email addresses" title...given their lack of commitment to choice and security, I am sure that every facebook user will get an account automatically. It will probably even generate accounts for users that have closed their accounts, and are just waiting the 30-90 days for the account to actually close. Of course, it won't close because the account will reactivate every time an email is received. Thus making the extremely long and difficult process of closing a facebook account completely impossible. Is it any wonder they have so many "Users"? its all about the Size of the E-Penis, my good man.
  

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  13.11.2010 05:26 #5

• Rebel11

  Facebook email? Nice gimmick maybe.
  
  But we all have to grow up sometime. I don;t know about you guys, but I'd be pretty embarrassed to give a future employer an "@facebook.com" email address.
  
  And Coming from a guy with 12 email accounts. Gmail is by far the best I've tried. We'll see if facebook will be able to match it.

  13.11.2010 07:09 #6

• Hyasuma

  i have 3 hotmail, 1 yahoo, 1 gmail,and some other student emails so far the best i used is gmail.
  

  13.11.2010 09:43 #7

• ee2skater

  Originally posted by KillerBug: Originally posted by i1der: Quote:The analyst says the Facebook system could likely prioritize emails based on closeness to the sender, or make email exchanges into a conversation between a number of users, turning the "dinosaur" that is email into a social service.
  already done by gmail... i don't think i need another email, this is kinda of late in game, Google world has taking me over :p ...and it is the biggest user complaint about gmail. What a pain in the butt...delete one email that just says, "LoL" and suddenly every email that you have gotten from that person in the last month disappears. You can't even turn the crap off without switching to an external client. They even extended it to the gmail app on android.
  
  I mean 1. you could go into the Trash and take it out or 2. delete just select messages (go into the email, pick the one of many messages you want, v, delete this message). Plus if a different subject from the same person pops up it makes another thread.
  
  How exactly are you deleting emails and they never again showing up...?

  19.11.2010 11:47 #8

• dEwMe

  Originally posted by Rebel11: I don't know about you guys, but I'd be pretty embarrassed to give a future employer an "@facebook.com" email address.
  Meh I would be embarresed to give ANYONE a Facebook email addy!!! Not as embarrassed as if I had an AOL address but close!
  
  

  Just my $0.02,
  
  dEwMe
  

  19.11.2010 12:18 #9

• ribbie149

  As crappy as Facebook security is, this is one user who will not be taking advantage of this wonderful email offer.
  

  19.11.2010 18:33 #10