 |
| Image Src:blogs.reuters.com |
Email thats just not email? Huh?
The new Facebook messaging system will consist of three parts: messaging, conversation history, and a social inbox in which users can choose to communicate in the format of their choice: email, chat, or SMS text. Every Facebook user will receive an @facebook.com email address. The company claims that this new "messaging system" is the future of modern communication and that synchronized messaging formats will make conversations much more seamless.
Ya, why not. This does sound pretty great. As a Generation Y member myself, I can see myself enjoying the new real-time capabilities of improved chat on Facebook (a revamp which has been needed for a while). But do even I want an @facebook email address? Not really to be honest. Luckily the geniuses at Facebook have already thought of a retort for my quip (shocking). The new messaging system allows members to use any existing email address they have if they opt to not have an @facebook account.
Still though, as I encroach on the working world, I don't really want all of my job application emails and work-related messages in such close proximity to my Facebook Wall. Not because I have a secret wild side I am trying to hide (though I do have lots of silly and hilarious friends) or that I am not in control of my account's privacy settings (I have it set like Fort Knox), but it just feels wrong to be mixing both worlds so closely. Like claustrophobic almost. Ya synchronized, streamlined, more efficient communication is a wonderful thing that should be innovated-- but there still remains a definitive line (for now at least) between personal and professional "messaging" communication.
I am looking forward to seeing how this one plays out. Yes, a lot of changes that Facebook has introduced do flop. And an email system with enough accounts for its 500 million (and growing) members could pose to be a potentially dangerous security risk, as many critics have pointed out already. Whether we like it or not, however, the new "messaging system" is sure to spark new innovation in communication formats, and for that, we can thank ol' Zuckerberg once again.
I feel like this would be invading people privacy a little bit, especially if they don't give Facebook consent to make the account for them. Has there been any word on that that you know about?
ReplyDeleteIt's a tough call right now. Facebook does allow people to elect to use their own email address (such as a gmail account) if they prefer not to have a @facebook.com email. This being said, hoewever, there is certainly still lots of skepticism going around about other potential security risks of this new messaging system, such as which "friends" do you actually want to have access to your email account and what kind of information will Facebook be aggregating from all of these messaging histories. Charlene Li wrote a nice article that addresses some of these issues at http://www.charleneli.com/2010/11/facebook-messages-challenges-traditional-email-portals/. Thanks for the comment!
ReplyDelete