Facebook's new messaging system mashes up SMS, e-mail, IM

Monday, November 15, 2010

Facebook today launched a new messaging system over the next few months that "isn't just e-mail," but integrates four common ways users communicate: email, Facebook messages and chat, SMS, and archives it all in a single thread.


 The company today is introducing a three-pronged system that strives to not necessarily change the way we communicate but to make it more efficient, more personal and definitely simpler. And, of course, Facebook wants to make it seamless across the platforms and devices we’re already using.

The new system puts a user's identity above the communication protocol. Facebook Engineer Joel Seligstein today said, "You decide how you want to talk to your friends...They will receive your message through whatever medium or device is convenient for them, and you can both have a conversation in real time. You shouldn't have to remember who prefers IM over email or worry about which technology to use. Simply choose their name and type a message."

The company said the rollout to users will be a slow one - over the next couple of months - and initially will be spread via invitations. The idea is to let people get used to it and offer some feedback to Facebook about it.

It currently handles the four different methods of communication, but as it rolls out, it will also become a sharing and collaboration platform. Microsoft announced today that it is integrating the Office Web Apps experience into Facebook's new messaging system. Users will be able to share Word, Excel, and Powerpoint documents in Facebook messages, and download them to your desktop.

But the idea that some users, including the younger users who already prefer SMS and Facebook over traditional email systems, will shift the winds for future generations is something that makes me hopeful that the clunky e-mail systems of today will someday be history.

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