ICT Article 2- Facebook To Start an Email Service

Upon hearing that Facebook had announced that they have created an email service for their users I immediately went on the net in search of more information and came across an excellent article on the New York Times website. It tells us that soon all Facebook users will have their very own email address ending with the Facebook.com suffix. With over 500million users worldwide could this herald the end of Hotmail and Gmail?

I read in the article that an unnamed source promised that Facebook has no intention of taking control of the email market. We are assured that their new communications service is not to be used on it's own but will be tightly coupled with Facebooks other services. I remain unconvinced. People spend more time on Facebook than on any other internet company, including Google. In my opinion it would be naive to think that Facebook email will have no effect on the current most popular email systems.

Both Msn and Google have attempted to add social networking aspects to their services. Google has a chat feature and Msn now allows those with hotmail accounts to post photos for their contacts to view and make status updates. However neither of these companies can compete with Facebook when it comes to playing the social network game. Facebook are constantly adding new services to the site. Clearly they are trying to convince us to spend copious amounts of time on their website. Jeremiah Owyang, an analyst with the Altimeter group, summed it up perfectly; “The more they own of our digital day, the more money they will make”.

I do not think Facebook is invincible. There will come a day when something will be created that will blow Facebook out of water. Technology is constantly improving and changing. Why should Facebook be immune to this constant evolvement? MySpace and Bebo were not so long ago the kings of social networking. The current social network giants that are Facebook and Twitter have now rendered both these sites redundant. Most of my friends disagree with me. They are convinced that Facebook is here to stay and will stand the test of time. I hope that one day I will be able to turn to them and say those three wonderful little words; “Told you so!!” For now though Facebook’s rivals should remain very worried. Facebook’s reign over the internet is showing no signs of ending anytime soon. It still continues to grow at a ferocious speed every day.

This article was very informative. Not only did it explain how the new email service would work but it also showed just how powerful a force Facebook has become. I would highly recommend clicking the link below and reading the article in full. It is a fascinating insight into the world of online business.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/12/facebook-to-start-an-e-mail-service/