Facebook As An Email Alternative
Posted by Nick O'Neill on July 15th, 2007 3:02 PMOver the past few weeks I have started using Facebook more and more as my primary method of keeping in touch with people. Additionally, as I mentioned last month I have been increasingly using Facebook as a resource for adding my professional contacts. While my correspondence on Facebook is primarily discussions with Facebook developers I have also been having professional correspondence as well as communication with my friends. Previously, when I wanted to get in touch with a friend that I hadn’t spoken with in a while I would shoot them an email. Now all of a sudden, since I know that they are probably browsing around Facebook, I just send them a message on there. It is equally effective and often times they respond even quicker. I think that perhaps Facebook will slowly become the place where I do most of my communication with friends and email will be used for my less close contacts. Jeremiah Owyang commented on this today. His younger sister says that she “only uses email to communicate with old people.” Bottom line, Facebook messaging has become a more effective way of communicating with people on a daily basis. Additionally, they have a great way of threading conversations just like Gmail does. Have you had the same experience of using Facebook as an alternative to email messages?
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Of course, I'm one of those older people. Facebooks "all in one place" strikes me as an illusion.
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I use Facebook's mobile website all the time from my Motorola Q smartphone: http://m.facebook.com. It's not quite as easy as email, but I wouldn't describe it as painful.
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Right now, they're are two things standing in the way of Facebook's Inbox really going wildfire as an email alternative... #1. The app isn't ready. It needs to be as full-featured as, say, Hotmail, Yahoo Mail, or Gmail. #2. Not everyone is on it.
Those are both easily surmountable, though. #1 is easily achievable with Facebook's engineering team (or, if they get bought out by someone else who already has an email app.) #2 is already underway. They'll soon hit 50 million people. Somewhere in that range is likely the tipping point.
Why would people switch? Because there's no spam in the Facebook Inbox. It's pretty powerful when the only people that can email you are people that you've given permission to email you.
Of course, in order for this to work as a true email alternative, Facebook will have to ditch the 1000-member silencing of groups. (Which is, btw, stupid. People can un-join a group if they don't like what they're getting from 'em.)
For years, people have been trying to solve the spam problem. Facebook has -- they just need to realize it.
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but i agree, starting to see a pattern of behavior shifting.
great blog btw. and i think i like the background highlighting on your links... it was a bit odd at first, but then i realized it's a very strong call-to-action highlight. (altho maybe a slightly light yellow could be less jarring / still effective). anyway, it's neat :)
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Add a little finesse to messaging, and sure, I'm game. Throw up the walls!
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