It is now public knowledge that Facebook has acquired the Fb.com domain. This news broke just a few days ahead of Facebook's special event. During this event, which will take place today, Facebook is expected to announce an overhauled and revamped version of Messages that will work more or less like e-mail. Credible sources indicate that within Facebook's headquarters, the proposed e-mail service has been code named Project Titan, and it is expected to be the "Gmail killer". Overally, the launch of an @facebook.com email is in itself no great surprise – the existence of Project Titan aka the "Gmail killer" has been circulating since February.
But can @facebook.com be the Gmail killer? As a matter of fact, it would seem that Facebook has in some ways begun to "kill Gmail". For instance, of late, Facebook has been unwilling to allow its users to export their friends list and their contact information from Facebook to Gmail. It is our considered view that this move from Facebook can only be understood in the context of project Titan. It would seem that Facebook is intentionally trying to make life more difficult for Gmail users on Facebook with the objective of forcing them to migrate to @facebook.com!
This move from Facebook was long over due. It should be kept in mind that even though Facebook has more than 500 million members, it nonetheless lacks business orientated and revenue generating services. Industry analyts have observed that as social networking continues to challenge and change the power of search on the web, it is just a matter of time before Facebook decisively threatens Google's control of $24bn in annual search advertising revenue. In view of the above, I suppose that a question that must be raised is that "given Facebook's privacy record, would you be willing to trust Facebook with your email? Is there the risk of Facebook invading your privacy or scanning your e-mail so as to provide targeted adverts? Stay tuned for more on this topic
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