Posted on Wednesday, 18 January 2012

Facebook is trying to move users to its own messaging service, something that goes beyond e-mail and instant messages. E-mail alone is too slow, and archaic, according to Molly Graham, who works with Facebook’s mobile group. “Look at that line that we use every day called CC. What does CC even stand for? It stands for carbon copy, which is insane,” she said in November at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Santa Clara. “What does that even mean in today’s world’ “When we were doing research for our messaging product, we actually looked at what subject lines people used. And like 80 percent of subject lines are “hey,” “hi,” or left blank. The subject line is outdated. The truth is, e-mail is outdated.

I love the idea of dropping email, but am hesitant about relying social media formats to communicate broadly. The notion of bigwigs dropping video chats is simultaneously forward thinking and somewhat big-brotherly. Unfortunately, if this is happening—and it sounds like it is—then it is going to be rough along the way. Many students I already work with do not regularly check their email because it takes too long. I have limited sorting options even on my Google-provided school email. At least if a message were sent social media style to my phone, it could easily be coordinated with my address book and it would tell me “Video message, President Haeger, NAU-Official,” or whatever customization would be most clear to it. With Siri and competing technologies on board, adjusting those settings would be as easy as leaving a voice mail or sending a text.

IBM Gives Birth to Amazing E-mail-less Man | Wired Enterprise | Wired.com

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  1. bakingphilosophy posted this

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