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Gmail Killer? Facebook Rolls Out the Next Evolution in Messages

Written by: Wendy Kenney November 15th, 2010
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This morning Facebook announced the rollout of the next evolution of Facebook Messages; a platform that is already being dubbed “The Gmail Killer.”

According to Facebook’s CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg, this is not email, but rather simple, seamless conversation.   Zuckerberg says that this platform enables users to have “conversations with people that they care about the most no matter what method they prefer to communicate.”

Facebook’s new mail system will have three primary features.  1.   Seamless Messaging between multiple channels 2. Single Conversation History, and 3.  The Social Inbox.

This platform integrates four different conversation channels;

  • text messaging,
  • instant messaging,
  • email and
  • Facebook messages.

The idea is that people can have a continual conversation with each other on whichever channel they prefer.  For example, you can start the conversation via email, but then continue it via text message.  Facebook’s goal is to make it feel like conversation, to be a “real-time, immediate personal experience.”

Another major difference between Facebook mail and other email is that instead of having many emails in your inbox from the same person, all with different subject lines, you’ll only have one continual thread per person.  The idea is to make communication “simple, quick, timely and fun,”  said Zuckerberg.

Facebook mail will also integrate a Social Inbox filtering system.  Because the goal of the system is to allow people to have conversations with people you care about the most, by default  the filter will put the conversations with the people you care about the most at the top of your list and into a special folder (i.e. friends and friends of friends).  Other conversations, such as those from people not marked as “Friends or Friends of Friends” will be filtered into a folder called “Other.”    Users will have their own Facebook email address, i.e. Username@facebook.com.

According to Zuckerberg, the program will be rolled out slowly, over a period of months, with first adopters joining by invitation only.  You can request your invite here:  http://www.facebook.com/about/messages/

While Zuckerberg doesn’t think that Facebook mail will be the death of traditional email platforms like Gmail or Yahoo Mail, currently Facebook mail does not sync with other email programs.

How will this new evolution affect email marketing?  What do you think about this new evolution of conversation?  Your comments are welcome.

Tags: , , , , , Posted in Advertising and Promotion, Email Marketing, Marketing, Online Marketing
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Comments

  1. Mike Adams     Says:
    November 15th, 2010 at 4:03 pm

    Hi Wendy,

    With Facebook now the #1 site according to Hitwise, I expect Google is getting nervous - or should be.

    For many, email has long since been problematic due to spam, although gmail does a pretty good job of filtering that out.

    Many people I know have already been using Facebook for most personal communication. This will just increase that trend. It won’t kill gmail, but Facebook certainly is changing the way people communicate with friends and family.

    Thanks for the interesting news!

    Mike

  2. Rachel     Says:
    November 15th, 2010 at 4:33 pm

    Hi Wendy!
    I think that the fb mail option is going take significant market share away from other email platforms b/c of the way it is going to link multiple forms of communications. I think that it going to make email marketing stronger because of product pages on fb…I am sure that there is going to be a way for brands that one “likes” to market directly towards them now thru fb mail.
    Rachel

  3. Wendy Kenney     Says:
    November 16th, 2010 at 4:59 pm

    Hi Mike and Rachel,

    Thanks for your comments. We will definitely see what happens in the future. It just reminds me of why I feel blessed to be an American.. few barriers to entry, as far as business goes.

  4. Tara     Says:
    November 16th, 2010 at 5:17 pm

    Zuckerberg is such a genius!

  5. Mac Martine     Says:
    November 21st, 2010 at 11:45 pm

    Interesting. The concept does sound appealing. However with all the recent Facebook privacy issues, this would make me a bit nervous. I don’t want to be a guinea pig for it, but I can see the appeal for sure.

  6. Email Addresses     Says:
    March 15th, 2011 at 5:58 am

    Your search Gmail Killer Facebook Rolls Out The Next Evolution In Messages did not match any documents. In the absence of a better solution.
    ———-
    Demin Martin