

Live from the Project Titan Facebook Event - noctrine
http://techcrunch.com/2010/11/15/facebook-email/

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zacharycohn
Boz just finished his presentation. I don't think this lived up to the hype
people generated for it. It seems just like combining chat and messages and
introducing a message history. I'm sure there were some huge backend changes,
but I don't know how much this will change the experience for the average
user.

~~~
camz
I agree, I think that this is a system or application that fb is trying to use
to expand its user base and make fb an "integral part of the internet" instead
of just another friendster and myspace type of platform.

But, realistically I don't think that email is going away for a while because
its entrenched into people's habits and it provides control.

If you were to use fb's system to replace your email then you'd effectively
relinquish your control over your data to fb (again).

Notedly, I want to disclaim that fb is POS. lol. I truly hate fb because of
its practices and that its essentially a giant time sink without purpose. I
registered my name and deactivated my account just so that no one else would
use my name but I don't use it.

~~~
zacharycohn
Just for clarification - I'm not trashing on Facebook. I think there are a lot
of legitimate uses for it and for a lot of people it's a great tool. Just
because it doesn't work for you doesn't mean it's a POS and something you
should "truly hate." While I'm somewhat disappointed this event didn't live up
to the hype people generated for it, I don't think this is going to bring
about the fall of civilization.

~~~
camz
I think it works great for what it is a database of photos and random stuff in
general. But, I don't think that it's an effective use of time and it's being
used currently mostly for stalking friends and whatnot. Which is fine, but the
main issue is that the company has questionable privacy policies and a
monopoly on our data.

Obviously this is an issue with many companies but none are as evident as
facebook and google. Facebook has time and again shown that it has little
regard for our privacy unless there's a major outcry. Even then their reaction
is often to late to little.

Again for those reasons I truly hate fb and for that reason its a pos.
Clearly, these are my opinions and I'm not trying to forcing anyone to comform
to my opinions. It's just a small rant into space lol.

In general I'm very hesitant to speak so negatively about a company, but this
is one of those few rare exceptions that I feel strongly enough about it to
say something. That's all = D

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jim_h
It's not going to replace email.

Seems like it's a system for your friends. Their focus isn't for things like
your bank account or anything else. It's very similar to email, but due to
their knowledge of your friends they can simplify the white/black lists and
prioritize communications.

~~~
mikeryan
Still a little fuzzy on the details but it sounds like its not supposed to
replace email, but instead enhance it with an overlay service?

My understanding is that Email is being replaced for many (younger peeps) by
SMS, IM and Facebook messaging already. Its funny when I look at it I actually
rarely send notes to friends with my personal email anymore. Email has become
my professional way to communicate but with Friends and Family its fading
away. It looks like Facebook is trying to capitalize on this trend by adding
an overlay on top of all those services.

I have to say this is really in some ways more interesting then an Fmail
announcment.

~~~
jim_h
It's strange to me that some people don't use email. It seems unavoidable at
this point in time.

Some of important things that go through my email In box are my order statuses
from online stores, bill reminders/confirmations, password reset emails from
website.. It's seems so hard to avoid email unless you don't do any of those
things.

It doesn't seem to be really merging communications, but trying to separate it
out between friends and other. It seems dangerous that any important emails go
to your fb account since it might get dumped into the 'other' folder and
possibly not get looked at for along time or never. People won't be getting
rid of their other (work/personal) accounts, so fb is really just another
account that they'll have to check.

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csallen
Well, it's a good day to be the top search result on Google for Fmail... for a
Facebook app I built and killed 3 years ago.

~~~
phlux
Make it redirect to Gmail :-D

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schwanksta
My takeaway is that it's a bit like how your smart phone will wrap in your IM
and SMS messages to a person in the same list interface.

I'm guessing this will be something where you select a person you know, and up
pops a list of all of the interactions you've had with them in one stream.

Seems like it might work, if it's seamless enough. Saying it's "email" or an
"email killer" is being short-sighted -- it's giving you a stream for an
individual.

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dstein
It sound like what Google Wave was trying to do, but Facebook might actually
succeed at.

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dfj225
In my mind (and maybe I missed some aspect of the Facebook announcement) Wave
was much more ambitious due to the collaborative document editing aspect,
absolutely realtime interaction, and open architecture/apis that allowed for
things such as bots and interaction from external systems.

It seems that Facebook's system has some of the same elements/ideas as Wave,
but I wouldn't say it fills the same space as wave.

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WiseWeasel
@facebook.com is the new @aol.com, now that the latter has all but imploded...
there to help you spot the technophobes.

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raphar
So this is more Twitter and MSN territory than Gmails's.

I feel that there has been some space for a MSN replacement for a while.
Microsof lack of innovation of MSN is a sign. (Wave tried to get it but failed
though)

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Terretta
Anyone watching have extra invites for HN?

