Archive for November, 2010

You’ve heard about it. Maybe you’ve even saw the press conference (if not, no worries, a link is at the bottom of this blog).

Facebook’s integrated messaging service, aka Project Titan, is here.

We’ve watched the press conference (live and 2 times afterwards…yes we’re tech nerds) and read what the experts have to say. It’s a lot of information, but we’ve compiled  what we feel are the most important tid bits of information to know about this new service.

What is it?: A messaging service through Facebook that integrates email, chat and SMS. You will be able to receive mail from outside of Facebook to your @facebook.com e-mail address as well as share Microsoft Office files.

Why?: Facebook’s Director of Engineering, “Boz”, said the purpose of this new system is to seamlessly integrate all the mediums we use to converse with people. In his example, he has to keep a mental database on how people preferred to be contacted: his Grandma likes email, his new nephew only responds to text and his best buddy prefers chat. That can get pretty complicated in an age where communication should be simpler. This is what this service intends to do.

When?: Facebook will be rolling this out slowly over the next year. DartzDeals heard something along the lines of 10% at a time.

So what does this all mean for your business? Well, before you start dreaming about even more targeted advertising on Facebook, know this: The content of all messages sent through this system will remain private and not be used to optimize targeting. Although Facebook stands to gain a sizable income from this type of system, the company has erred on the side of privacy. This may be to improve its image as the company is consistently criticized for its privacy policy.

Although your business will be able to send e-mail to a Facebook user’s account, this approach may back fire…big time. Any unsolicited (key word here) messages will be considered Spam by users who may resent your brand for intruding on their Facebook without their permission.

Facebook may one day turn this service into a revenue generating stream, but for now its strictly a service for the users.

Things change and evolve at Facebook even faster than I can type this blog entry, but here are some other features of this new service:

• One conversation stream: This new message service has done away with the subject line. The subject is the conversation. You will be able to view you entire conversation with someone in one stream. What I wonder is this: These conversations could get very long (anyone ever used Blackberry Messenger?). Will there be a search function so that you can search within your conversation?

• Social Filtering: This feature is designed to prioritize your messages. Your close contacts will appear in your inbox while other message will appear in a separate inbox titled “Other”

• Your e-mail address will be your username@facebook.com. To get a username, go to Account Settings and then click on “change” under “Username”.

• You can opt out of receiving messages outside of Facebook. They will automatically bounce back to the sender.

We want to hear what you have to say about this new service. Post any questions or comments!

And if you want to see the full press conference click here: http://apps.facebook.com/facebooklive/

Dart.