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http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101115/tc_afp/usitcompanyinternetfacebook_20101115202145Facebook
launches new messaging service, includes emailby Glenn Chapman - 1 hr 10
mins agoSAN FRANCISCO (AFP) - Facebook launched a next-generation online
messagingservice on Monday that includes facebook.comemail addresses in a
move seenas ashot across the bow of Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft.Facebook
founder Mark Zuckerberg unveiled what he called a
"convergent"modernmessaging system that "handles messages seamlessly
across all the ways youwantto communicate" in a single inbox.The
messaging service blends online chat, text messages and other
real-timeconversation tools with traditional email, which Zuckerberg said
had lostfavorfor being too slow for young Internet users."It is true that
people will be able to have facebook.com email addresses,butthis is not
email," Zuckerberg said at an event in downtown San Francisco."Ithandles
email."Zuckerberg dismissed reports referring to the messaging system as
a "Gmailkiller" aimed at the heart of free Web-based email services from
Google andsimilar services from Yahoo! and Microsoft."We don't expect
anyone to wake up tomorrow and say 'I'm going to shut downmyYahoo Mail or
Gmail account,'" Zuckerberg said.But, he added: "Maybe one day six
months, a year, two years out people willstart to say this is how the
future should work."Maybe email won't be as important a part as it was
before and we can pushpeople toward real-time conversations," he said.The
Facebook messaging service was intended to turn online exchanges
intoongoing conversations as opposed to intermittent back-and-forth
emailmissives,according to Facebook director of engineering Andrew
Bosworth."The system is definitely not email," Bosworth said. "We modeled
it moreafterchat."The new messaging system, referred to inside the Palo
Alto, California-basedfirm as "Titan," will be slowly rolled out in
coming months to users.Approximately 350 million of Facebook's more than
500 million members fireoffmessages at the service, with more than four
billion digital missives sentdaily, according to Zuckerberg.With such a
large user base, a free personalized facebook.com email servicelaysdown a
powerful challenge to the established email giants -- Microsoft'sHotmail,
Yahoo! Mail and Google's Gmail.Hotmail currently has the most users,
361.7 million as of September,accordingto online tracking firmcomScore,
followed by Yahoo! with 273.1 million andGmailwith 193.3
million.Microsoft, which has a small stake in Facebook, is integrating
its popularOffice software into the social network's messaging system so
people will beable to share Word, Excel and Powerpoint documents as
attachments.Facebook's new messaging service comes amid sparring with
Google over datasharing. Google this month blocked Facebook from
importing Gmail contactinformation over the social network's refusal to
share data about its users."Facebook says this isn't a 'Gmail killer,'
but this is neither completelyaccurate nor completely wrong," said
Forrester analyst Augie Ray. "Anythingthatmakes communication easier and
pulls attention away from Gmail is a 'Gmailkiller.'"Facebook users can
decide whether to get word to friends using SMS, chat,emailor a Messages
feature at the social networking service.Messages will be received in
whatever medium or on whichever device isconvenient."You shouldn't have
to remember who prefers IM over email or worry aboutwhichtechnology to
use," said Facebook engineer Joel Seligstein. "Simply choosetheirname and
type a message."Incoming messages are sorted into one of three folders. A
main folder holdsmessages from Facebook friends, while bank statements,
club notices andotherworthwhile messages not from close friends go into a
second folder.A junk folder was created for messages people don't want to
see."We can change the paradigm to have genuine control over who gets
ourattention," Bosworth said. "This is actually something people have
wantedfor along time."One of the major objectives was to streamline
sending and receiving messageswith an eye toward simulating an ongoing
chat, according to Zuckerberg."Don't think of it as inbox but as a place
where you have, store and recordyourcommunications with friends," Ray
said.
