Is Facebook Going Into The E-MAIL Business?

 Facebook and Google are already in competition for internet popularity. This service would certainly boost Facebook's popularity even more. According to the article below, it isn't official just yet. We may have to wait a few days for a definitive answer.
    . . . June


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Facebook to Start an E-Mail Service
NYTimes.com: November 12, 2010, 8:20 PM By Miguel Helft

Facebook has more than 500 million users around the world. And Americans spend more of their time online with Facebook than with any other Internet company, including Google and Yahoo.

Now the company wants people to weave their online lives even more tightly into Facebook.

On Monday, Facebook is expected to unveil a revamped set of communications services that will include an e-mail system in which users will have addresses with the facebook.com suffix, according to two people briefed on Facebook’s plans who asked to speak on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss them publicly.

Facebook has invited reporters to a press conference on Monday, but has refused to say what it plans to announce. The company declined to comment on any unannounced communications services.

Facebook already offers an online chat service and an internal message system between Facebook users. The new services, whose exact details could not be learned, would greatly expand Facebook’s communications offerings.

But one person with knowledge of Facebook’s plans said that the new communications services would not be meant to be used on their own, like other e-mail systems. Instead, they would be tightly coupled with Facebook’s other services.

“They are not trying to do a standalone rival to Gmail,” the person said. “They are building an integrated experience in everything they do.”


Still the new services could sharpen Facebook’s competition with Google and others.

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If you're a Facebook fan, wouldn't you use Facebook email service instead of Google? Leave a comment

June


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Will Google Start Its Own Social Network Soon?

Competition makes the world go around and, according to the article below, Facebook had overtaken Google in internet searches in March.Weekly traffic at Facebook exceeded Google’s for the first time that month, according to data tracker Experian Hitwise. It just makes sense then that Google will offer a social network service in order to compete.This is expected to happen sometime within the next six months or so
   . . . June


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Facebook Says Google May Start Social Networking Site Within Six Months
Bloomberg:  By Mark Lee - Sep 14, 2010 2:09 PM ET 
 
Facebook Inc., operator of the world’s most popular social-networking site, said Google Inc. may offer a similar service within six months as demand from Internet users increases.

Google is expected to start “a fairly significant social media platform,” Stephen Dolan, commercial director for Asia at Facebook, said at a conference in Hong Kong today. Google may unveil the website in “three to six months,” according to Dolan, who said his projection is based on information from media reports.

Google is stepping up acquisitions after its search engine was overtaken by Facebook, whose service allows users to share photos, video, short messages and other information with groups of friends, as the most-visited U.S. website in March. Weekly traffic at Facebook exceeded Google’s for the first time that month, according to data tracker Experian Hitwise.

“Facebook is the leader in the emerging Social Web and will face challenges from many players, both large and small,” said Ray Valdes, an analyst at Gartner Inc. “Google is Facebook’s most direct competitor, because Google is dominant in the previous generation of the Web, the content-centric Web.”
Google’s social network service won’t mandate a direct response, provided Facebook continues to carry out its mission of becoming the world’s social utility, Valdes said in an e- mailed statement.

Read on . . .