Facebook “could announce its own e-mail address – @facebook.com — or even a fully-fledged web-based e-mail system”, says the BBC.
You can practically see Mark Zuckerberg’s data mining minions gleefully rubbing their hands in anticipation.
Google recently banned Facebook from importing users’ email contacts, “a move it says it made because Facebook refused to allow the export of contact and friend data from within user profiles”, says the story, going on:
“In reply, Facebook enabled a workaround that let users save their Google contacts to their computers before importing them into Facebook.”
It’s “safe to assume that Facebook Mail is being switched on in the very near future”, says the Guardian, continuing >>>
It’s also safe to assume that the inevitable “switch it back off” petition from an extremely vocal minority will fail, as such petitions always do. In the technology columns this evening, there are going to be two main views: first, that this is a “game changer”; and secondly, that this is a “privacy nightmare”.
If Facebook really is releasing a full webmail client, able to send and receive messages beyond Facebook’s traditional walled garden, then it might well be a “game changer”: perhaps it’s an even more significant launch than Gmail (which had a rather low-key launch on 1 April 2004). In Facebook Mail, everyone’s address book is already filled out, and there’s no need to convince users to sign up.
It’s also worth noting that Facebook’s Friend Finder adverts have been particularly aggressive over the past day or so: I have a suspicion that Facebook really has kept all the email contacts uploaded using that tool over the years, as it said it might in the service’s small print. Anyone who has used the importer may find that more than just their Facebook friends are waiting for them in Project Titan’s address book.
The catch, the Guardian adds, is the “privacy nightmare” with “Beating up on Facebook’s privacy policies” a “pastime beloved of the technology media”.
But not to worry because “Despite the hyperbolic headlines that will inevitably follow tonight’s launch, the truth is — of course — that Facebook Mail will be neither a swift revolution nor a privacy disaster. It’ll just be another incremental improvement — but perhaps also a step change — in one of many social networks, and another small step forward for our online lives.”
Riiiiight.
