Facebook is reportedly preparing to release Facebook Email with full POP and IMAP support (meaning you can access the email account from outlook, your iPhone, and any other mail clients).
You can read about it: here.
What do you think of the move? How does this change the product Facebook is offering? What consumer insight do they see, and what value are they trying to add. Is their company well equipped to deliver on it?
-Corey
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This is not a move I personally support. Currently, Facebook is taking heat from business ethicists regarding its poor attempts to protect users' privacy and lack responsibility in upholding its mission statement.
ReplyDeleteAlthough it seems like a great idea, could anyone trust Facebook with access to personal email? Its security measures are questionable - there have been numerous reports of hacks into the social networking sites. Imagine having to send reports, dissertations, or resumes through Facebook - hackers and phishers would have a feast. Also, it's just not feasible. It is bothersome already to receive lots of emails daily regarding events, friendship acceptances, etc., so no one would prefer to have important or sensitive material mingled with that. Thirdly, it shows a lack of commitment on the part of Facebook execs to live up to their original mission. Originally, Facebook was started as a yearbook for Harvard grauduates; but now it plans to expand globally - while people's privacy settings are diluted to less than Myspace standards. No one should deal with a company that does not have backbone and does not live up to its mission for profits.
I don't see this move by Facebook as being very successful. While it is true that Facebook is pretty popular amongst students and, in general, the younger generation, it's meant to be more of a social scene that allows people to communicate with their friends on a casual basis. With that in mind, I don't think there's any benefit from having a Facebook email account because no one uses Facebook with the primary intent of e-mailing people.
ReplyDeleteFrom their perspective, Facebook is attempting to widen their audience, increase accessibility, and add variety/functions to this utility. However, lately, Facebook has been undergoing many changes in terms of their layouts, and even a small alteration such as this causes much irritation.
Furthermore, Facebook is always cluttered with messages, events, and group invites that it gets tiring after a while to consistently keep updated. Also, lots of spamming and hacking occurs. As someone mentioned before, there's a lack of security, which is an essential aspect when it comes to e-mails.
Finally, most of us already have e-mail accounts established that are used on a regular basis. When competing with companies like Google or Yahoo, I believe this new Facebook e-mail will fall short due to the great popularity of both companies and the comparing features and options offered.
Over the years, Facebook has definitely deviated from its original intention as a network solely between college students to a Myspace imitation to now an Google/Yahoo wannabe. Facebook should just stick to what made it initially so popular.
Interesting thoughts!
ReplyDeleteI agree with both of you - I'm skeptical. Switching email providers, in and of itself, incurs a high cost. You need to transfer over messages, tell all your friends your new address, etc. For FB to get users to do this, they need to offer something above and beyond gmail, etc. I'd be very surprised to see that happen. I also second all the claims about not trusting Facebook - Zuckerberg recently said that "privacy is dead," after all!
I think Facebook realizes it has some power - it's the portal in which people share their lives, pictures, etc. I think they do want to become a more central part of communication, as they hope that by doing so they'll find a better way to increase advertising revenues or open up new revenue streams. I just don't buy it.
-Corey
People almost always criticize companies for expanding into areas outside their specialty. I don't know why they (the people) do it, but it could be something to do with the fact that we are generally resistant to change, and form rigid connections between brands and their service.
ReplyDeleteThis said, i dont know if facebook's move is The right one. They are just repackaging the inbox feature to make people see it as a substitute for other email providers. I don't think that it will catch on intially, but in the long run who knows?
When Facebook came out with their chat feature, everyone said that there would be no way that a glitchy box with much lag time would replace MSN Messenger and the others. Now, i find myself using facebook chat much more often because its convenient.
If Facebook does a good job in programming an interface which makes it easier to deal with the hoards of mail that we all hate sorting through, i feel that at least a segment of the market will switch to primarily using their service. I hope im not one of them. I already spend too much time on Facebook.
Good point Ritvik - it's always easy to criticize and to think that any horizontal move will fall flat. Many people probably said the same thing when Google originally created Gmail!
ReplyDeleteI can see the synergy for Facebook, if they are able to pull it off - they want to have users like you and me spend more and more time on the platform - be it sharing photos, chatting, or emailing. They want to be the internet portal for communication with your friends.
I have my doubts that the firm could put together a product strong enough to compensate for the high cost of switching - but I'm also just speaking for myself. I'm not the most avid facebook user :). I'm really anxious to see what the product looks like.