Is This is Good Thing or a Bad Thing?
Unless you live in a cave, you have heard of Facebook. Everyone has heard of Facebook. It has literally blown MySpace out of the water with its popularity as THE leading social online network. People awaited the release of the movie about the creation of Facebook "The Social Network" with baited breath looking forward to seeing how this HUGE social network came to be. Creator, Mark Zuckerberg, became a hero – an idol – as someone they wanted to adopt (that would be me) because of his absolutely enormous success with Facebook.
Today CNN published an article "Facebook overhauling inbox, combining e-mail, texting and IM" about how Facebook will be providing each of the 500 million users with their own email address inside their messaging system in an effort to dominate the messaging marketing. This program will be rolled out in the next couple of weeks.
What do you think of this attempt by Facebook to be THE source of all of your emails? Personally, I have concerns about the privacy issues Facebook has had and will continue to have and am not so anxious to turn my emails over to Facebook.
I would be curious to hear your reaction to this latest announcement from Facebook. You can read the fuil article on CNN here:Facebook overhauling inbox, combining e-mail, texting and IM.
Related posts:
I would guess that they want to capture a part of the market that they haven't yet dominated. Could be that a lot of people want their "one-stop shopping" source of information, news, social media, etc. All I can say is that someone there had an idea, and it appears that they will do like others before have done in the past- some successfully…look at Microsoft…not just settling for what they already are.
Hi David,
You are right – they want to capture and dominate. Wonder if they will be successful…
Hi Julie,
I read that this is another step where basically people only need to use Facebook for everything. I don't have a Facebook page and one reason is I am not in favour of a company having all my information, regardless what they say about privacy.
It will be interesting to see their next step.
Susan, you don’t have a Facebook? That is un-American! Oh that’s right – you aren’t American LOL. I agree with you – it is their attempt to have complete MARKET DOMINATION! I am not in favor of this and with the privacy issues and other FB policies changing as quickly as they do, I don’t have much confidence in having them keep my emails private. Like you say, it will be interesting to see how this unfolds because as you and I have discussed, many of our “joint” opinions are not the same as the majority – right?
Y'know, Facebook just doesn't make sense to me. From my first sign up to the present day, it never impressed me in any way. There is not one single thing about it that I like. I visit, try messing with my page a bit, and lose interest immediately.
For me, the content of FB is just so low quality, the interaction so perfunctory, the overall experience just so **yawwwn*, I can never get at all motivated with it.
Which leaves me wondering…. WTH is the big deal and why is half the world using it?
Then again, I wonder why half the world pays attention to Lady Gaga and thinks celebrity marriages are enthralling intellectual fodder.
The problem that FB is going to have here, is that they simply are not a "useful" application. They are not Microsoft, Google, or Yahoo. They are trying very hard to be, but they fall woefully short. They are an overloaded script that is fast becoming outdated despite their tacking on more and more doodads.
Wait till they have a few of their infamous crashes or privacy issues when people are trading truly sensitive info. Then the fun will begin.
Yeah, I'm feeling extra curmudgeonly today;)
Welcome Paul – and a much appreciated welcome. Suffice it to say that a world who throws Brandy off Dancing with the Stars in favor of Bristol Palin is a world where Facebook prevails LOL – seriously – even if you don’t watch Dancing with the stars I am sure you have heard the buzz surrounding the last results show! With that said, bravo to you for having the courage (not something I would have ever doubted from you) to stand up against the Facebook lovers of the world! I agree with most of what you say – however I do like to see the pictures of my real “friends” and their families and it was nice to connect with fellow classmates prior to my 30th HS reunion so I didn’t feel like a total moron not recognizing any of them. Other than that? Uhhhhhh – can’t think of much else I like about Facebook.
Thanks for your awesome contribution
"Looks around furtively"
You're not gonna tell anyone I said that are ya?
Of course not Paul, it is just between you and me
I also have the same concerns about the hacking, privacy, and virus issues. Being the biggest will also make it a target for hackers. But because of this challenge, facebook is also investing and motivated to improve its security which is to our benefit.
The only weird thing is companies used to frown on their employees spending time on facebook during business hours, but since many of these companies are marketing, selling, and listening to their customers in facebook, then I guess it would benefit their industry not to heavily restrict their employees time on facebook.
Wonder how this affects their productivity though. Online Promotion & Consumption vs. Productivity?
Hi Matt,
My concerns are growing daily about the hacking, privacy and virus issues. I just had to change my password because people were posting image ads on my pages. I don’t mind so much (although it is distracting) on my personal profile, but on my business pages? That bothers me more. Let’s see if changing my password works. I wish Facebook luck in their quest to improve security – that is going to be a challenge – but if successful, a rewarding one.
I think that companies still frown when their employees spend time on Facebook because the employees are usually using it for their personal brand and not the corporate brand. I wrote an interesting blog post about this topic here: http://blog.newhorizons123.com/the-convergence-of-personal-branding-and-corporate-image-%E2%80%93-or-not/ – if you get chance – check it out. It brings up the issue/potential problems associated with people’s personal brands and how they might affect the corporate brand of the companies they work for.
When employees are spending time doing anything personal, be it using their Facebook accounts or anything that is not related to their jobs – it is counterproductive from the companies perspective. Of course, if they are using Facebook to promote their company, then productivity increases.
Thanks for sharing your insights
Julie, I'm with you. I don't think that I want facebook having all my info under their ever growing umbrella. I think it's wise on their part to move forward with this endeavour from a business standpoint. The bigger they get, the bigger the threats facebook will face will be and I don't think I want them having all my info no matter how secure they say they are. It's just a matter of time before something goes wrong over there, in my opinion. Plus, facebook isn't the end all and be all. It's just facebook. But I can see the mafia wars and farmville crowd getting excited over this. Sheesh.
Hi Dennis. I am liking Facebook less and less these days especially with image ads popping up all over the place (coming from Networked Blogs). It is never good to put all your eggs in one basket and especially if that basket has a history of having holes in it. BTW – i NEVER play Mafia Wars or Farmville and wonder how so many people seem to have an awful lot of spare time on their hands. Maybe I am jealous LOL
An fascinating discussion is worth comment. I feel that it is best to write extra on this topic, it may not be a taboo subject but generally persons are not enough to speak on such topics. To the next. Cheers