Social networking giant Facebook has unveiled a new messages platform that it calls the “future” of communication, with all 500 million users to receive an email address as part of a new system which incorporates traditional email, instant messaging and SMS communication.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said the new platform is a type of “modern messaging system”, saying the future of communication will surpass email and incorporate different types of messaging systems.
Zuckerberg said at the event he had spoken with many users, especially younger users, who view email as “too formal”. So the company went about creating a system that would incorporate email, but would not necessarily use it as the key focus.
Instead, he says, the new Facebook messaging system is all about incorporating different ways of communicating online and it uses four main features: email, Facebook message, instant messaging and SMS messages.
“This is not an email killer. This is a messaging experience that includes email as one part of it,” he said. “This is the way that the future should work.”
Facebook engineer Joel Seligstein said on the Facebook blog the new platform is the “next evolution of Messages… You decide how you want to talk to your friends: via SMS, chat, email or Messages”.
“They will receive your message through whatever medium or device is convenient for them, and you can both have a conversation in real time. You shouldn’t have to remember who prefers IM over email or worry about which technology to use. Simply choose their name and type a message.”
Over the next few months, users will be given notifications on the site as to whether they want to activate their @facebook.com email address. The email address is simply the name of your profile, e.g. bob.jones@facebook.com.
The actual inbox appears similar to the existing one. Messages appear as they always have, and users can reply to messages by typing in the “quick reply” box. But new features, such as the ability to send a message via text message, will be added to the existing platform.
Seligstein is clear to say that “Messages is not email”.
“There are no subject lines, no cc, no bcc, and you can send a message by hitting the Enter key. We modelled it more closely to chat and reduced the number of things you need to do to send a message. We wanted to make this more like a conversation.”
Analysts commented before the platform launched that Facebook should implement some type of social function into its new email system, and the company hasn’t disappointed. The social inbox is split into two folders: the “inbox” and “other” folders.
Messages from your existing Facebook friends will go straight into the main inbox, while emails from people who are not your friends will automatically be sent into the “other” folder. Seligstein says this was designed so that emails from companies like bill providers won’t show up to next messages from your friends – quite similar to Google’s own priority inbox.
The message system also supports attachments, and Microsoft has confirmed it will enable users to view Office documents attached to messages. If users own the desktop version of Office, they can download, edit and save attachments.
Each conversation in the new messages platform will be a single thread, meaning the messages you’ve sent back and forth between yourself and another person will all show up together.
Analysts have commented that while Facebook is saying this isn’t the end of email, the company’s actions are nevertheless signalling the death of the platform.
“It sounds as if Zuckerberg is just tip-toeing around calling for the death of a system that a lot of people currently use,” TechCrunch pointed out.
“He noted that email is too cumbersome. There’s a subject field, a formal greeting, a closing. Teens are using SMS and IM because it’s much simpler. And that’s what Facebook is trying to add to everyone’s life, using email as the gateway drug, of sorts.”
Ovum principal analyst Eden Zoller also wrote in a statement that if Facebook is positioning itself as a full mail service, then it will put “Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! on the offensive”.
“An email service from Facebook makes a lot of sense. It has a huge base of 500 million users that already love to communicate and share, and Facebook is giving them richer ways to do this through virtual gifts, games, location and even voice thanks to the recent integration deal with Skype.”
“Adding email to the mix is a logical step and Facebook could tap into user data to provide an attractive, highly personalised service. You would also expect it to push mobile features given its big move in this direction.”
Users will be introduced to the service over the next few months, Facebook said, with the platform to hit all of the company’s mobile applications and sites.
Patrick Stafford is a freelance journalist and a former deputy editor of SmartCompany.
