November 23, 2010
Will Facebook Messages be Successful?
Despite the fact that the Internet has changed enormously since the early 90's, there is still one part that hasn't really changed: e-Mail. Sure, there have been attempts to modify e-mail (such as putting it on a cloud environment like Hotmail and Gmail), but for the most part, the idea of an electronic message has remained relatively consistent. Will this always be the case?
In the past years, the popularity of Facebook and Twitter has prompted tech companies to redesign the most popular form of communication on the web by integrating it with popular social-media sites. First there was Google with Google Buzz, a social-media app that “lived” within Google and allowed the user to interact with those that emailed most frequently. Now, Facebook is announcing Facebook Messages, a new service that allows users to have an @facebook.com address.
Will it catch on? We can only speculate, but Facebook Messages does already have several advantages. For one, it's going to be built within existing Facebook accounts, as opposed to being a separate service. With 500 million strong, this move could make Facebook Mail very competitive within the e-mail provider service market. Also, Facebook Messages aims to personalize communication. Messages will be more attune to IM's than traditional e-mails with features like one button sending (just like Facebook Chat) and the organization of messages by person rather than subject line.
It's an interesting move by Facebook, and perhaps something that will help redevelop the way we communicate over the web.
To read more about Facebook Messages, click here. For all of your web consulting needs, visit us at WebConnection.
