If you currently have no reason to be a member of Facebook, the new Messages service may convince you to become one: It could kill the spam industry.
Facebook Messages is the future in Web messaging, no doubt about it. And it could destroy the spam industry. What other incentive do you need to sign up to Facebook Messages as soon as you receive an invitation?
Promoted as the Social Inbox, Facebook Messages is destined to become the place to go for a spam-free messaging experience. Surely, there are ways to achieve that already, but the Social Inbox makes it all simpler while also acting like a communications hub regardless of your communication form (SMS, chat, email or Facebook Messages) where your communications history is saved in the cloud.
In conjunction with the launch of the Social Inbox, every person on Facebook can get a free @facebook.com e-mail address. The idea here isn't that you absolutely need a new e-mail address, but that you should get used to what the Social Inbox doesn't support (like subject line, CC, and BCC). The Social Inbox basically borrows the simplest Windows Live e-mail option, couples it with the Windows Live chat experience, and leaves it at that.
Facebook describes this as an instant communication form that is free of worries, including worries about how to reach your friends. The friends you don't already have on Facebook can be added to your Messages experience. Everything else, including spam, can be dug up through an "Other" folder. In the long run you'll basically get used to the idea of not needing to maintain contact lists of any kind, or like Facebook puts it:
"Relatively soon, we'll probably all stop using arbitrary ten digit numbers and bizarre sequences of characters to contact each other. We will just select friends by name and be able to share with them instantly. We aren't there yet, but the changes today are a small first step."
Facebook's Challenge
Facebook's challenge will be to prevent others from making similar services, especially given the fact that Facebook is heavily based on consumer-centric Windows Live concepts. It wouldn't take long for Microsoft to ramp up Windows Live to match the Social Inbox, for instance. And we guess they will do exactly that.
It's also a fact that Microsoft is on a steady path to offer a seamless messaging experience that includes your personal as well as business life. In other words, the next thing Facebook will need to figure out, is how to make inroads with professionals, or said differently, those who are either attractive to advertisers or are willing to pay for "Facebook Messages Pro".
Google is currently on a similar path as Microsoft, where the aim is to offer cloud services that aren't just socially impressive, but also commercially viable. In the end, these new messaging experiences will all aim to solve the spam challenge at the very least, so we can only give kudos to Facebook here. Because, as they stated above, today is just a small first step.
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