Facebook versus Google – the clash of the web giants?

Will Facebook Mail change the world? Probably not, but if you had a look at the press coverage the social network’s new mail service has received you may think it is going to make waves in the world of communications companies. The Guardian has speculated about how this system might work, the BBC has talked about how this could lead to a bigger rivalry with Google and the Independent believes Facebook Mail is an attack against Google itself.

So what is so new about Facebook Mail? And why is it regarded as a threat to Google?

First of all, Facebook Mail is not just about mailing; it is designed to combine all kinds of digital conversations in one account, like emails, text messages and instant messaging. Therefore all messages would be bundled in one account. If you want to track a conversation with a certain someone that you had via several media platforms, you do not need to check all the different forms of communication separately, but only your Facbook Mail inbox. That sounds good, doesn’t it? But there is a catch. Facebook not only combines all your electronic messaging, it also collects all your communications. This application will allow Facebook to get a much deeper insight into your ‘social graph’ – your own little personal network. This doesn’t sound so good anymore; collecting data has a bad reputation these days.

To use Facebook Mail you will need to set up a Facebook e-mail address which would look like [email protected]. Not a big thing you might think – but this is actually what should make Google a little worried. By introducing its own e-mail platform, Facebook is trying to get users from their Google Mail account to Facebook. Users need never leave Facebook; it would be the source of almost all their online communications. To make Facebook Mail more attractive, the developers also adapted one feature from Google, which ranks new messages in your inbox not according to the time they were send, but according to their importance.

Within the next few months, Facebook Email should be made available for all the present Facebook users. If then the community starts to really use this tool and maybe even move their old Google Mail accounts to Facebook, Google could lose some of its influence. Ironically, some months ago Google tried to start a similar application to Facebook Mail: Google Buzz. But due to harsh criticism about its poor data security and the way personal data was made accessible through this network, Buzz never really became successful. If Facebook learns from where Google went wrong, it might be able to overtake Google Mail. But that’s still to come: Facebook still faces a huge challenge and the final decision in favour or against an application lies with us – the users.

Other Elements articles in which you might be interested:

1. Comment: Everyone thinks the way I do, don’t they?
2. Cloud Girlfriends & Fake Facebook Love