Facebook has been hitting news headlines recently for its ups and downs. We all have notices the crashing, new formatting; decorations and now they are organizing another press event for the next week. Based on the subtle decorations on the invites, many believe that Mark Zuckerberg & Co. is poised to unleash a so-called “Gmail killer. 
The latest word is they are getting a first look at Project Titan—the code name for what is reputedly a secret Facebook project aimed at creating a full-on Web-based email client to rival such competitors as Gmail, Hotmail and (of course) Yahoo! Mail.
Inside Facebook headquarters, Project Titan is being called a “Gmail killer,” TechCrunch reports. Many believe that the rumored email project could help explain the recent flap between Facebook and Google over Facebook’s unwillingness to allow its users to export their friends lists—and their contact info—into Gmail. There has not been an official report from the side of Facebook though. But the rumors are that there would be soon a the possibility of something far more ambitious: a “full-fledged” email client that would truly compete with Gmail, Yahoo! Mail and other advanced Web-based email services that give you desktop-style features in a browser.
Facebook already has its own bare-bones client for exchanging private messages with your Facebook friends, but it’s pretty basic. You can’t import e-mail from other clients or POP accounts, organize your messages into folders, or archive them for safekeeping; your only options are to mark a message as unread, report spam or delete.
On the low end, Facebook could simply add some of that basic functionality: the ability to create folders, checkboxes for selecting which messages go where, POP support and so on. It’s also a good bet that Facebook users would be issued an email address, and Inside Facebook has some theories (would you get an “@facebook.com” email domain, “@fb.com” or something else?) on that front.
There’s even speculation that Facebook’s Project Titan could integrate with Microsoft’s just-launched Office Web Apps, which could mean you’d be able to edit online Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents, all within your Facebook account.
As TechCrunch points out, Facebook’s engineers have made a science out of mapping your various circles of friends, and the site could use that expertise to create a “smart” inbox that organizes your messages according to who’s most important to you—and who isn’t.
Using Facebook for email could also mean the end of having to remember the current (or proper, depending on the occasion) e-mail address for your various confidants. For better or worse, it’s increasingly feeling like the whole world’s on Facebook, and while email addresses change all the time (because someone has changed jobs, moved to a new ISP or merely grown tired of their old email client), Facebook accounts tend to stay the same—making emailing someone a simple (and reliable) matter of just typing in their name.
Keep in mind, however, that Mark Zuckerberg isn’t shy about touting his ultimate goal of “making everything social”—a quest that seems to translate, sooner or later, into making everything Facebook. Adding a full-on email client to Facebook represents yet another step in that direction, for good or ill.
But then a question in everybody’s mind is: Are we ready to trust Facebook to use for e-mails? Anyone who’s already nervous about Facebook invading their privacy will find reason to fret about Facebook handling their email accounts. Will messages be scanned for keywords that would result in targeted advertisements? What about Facebook developers—would they get access to your messages?
Credit: news.yahoo.com
