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Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

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Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#111
post #82

I think Facebook has much much bigger goals than silly gmail killing. It's trying to become the internet for all those who don't know the difference between a browser, web site and the internet. Offering email services is just a small step in that direction.

A lot of people compare Facebook to MySpace, but isn't AOL also a good comparison? Remember all the companies that were AOL keywords. Now they have Facebook pages. AOL has a messenger, now Facebook does. It just strikes me as AOL for the 21st century.

I actually got to pose the question (live and in-person), "Isn't Facebook the new AOL?" to Steve Case last week.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#112
post #67
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

1: My daughter just moved into her own house today. 2: Wow, awesome! I should call them to congratulate her! Whats the new house number? 1: Oh, she doesn't have a landline, she just uses her cell phone. 2: That's the scariest thing I've heard so far today. 1: ???... To the newest generations email is an antiquated technology that has no real use among their peers. Eventually they might get some email address for coll…

This is very true. I'm 20 and I've never used my personal email regularly and I'm sure most of my friends haven't either. We've always used MSN or AIM and more recently Facebook to keep in touch.

But at least here in the US, every incoming first year student at a university in college has to have an email, and receives multiple emails per day from professors, administrators, etc. Email is still a huge part of the current college infrastructure, that could change, but I don't see it happening overnight.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#113
post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I heard that Zuckerberg locked Paul Buchheit in a closet and told him he couldn't come out until he cloned Gmail.

It's being put into 'The Social Network 2: Return of the Lawsuits' as I write.

Sorkin, is that you?

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#114
post #86
post #28

If @facebook.com email addresses have a stronger link to real, non-spammy, non-mass-produced identities than other domains, they could become preferred at many other sites -- a broader version of Facebook Connect.

Setting up fake Facebook accounts is trivial. Sure, not as easy, perhaps, as some of the spammier email providers. But if the domain gets that much good karma it would be worth the effort...

1) Facebook can build a simple API which, given an email, tells you the trust rating of that person. "To sign up to this service you need a Facebook trust rating of 10 or more" 2) Emails from facebook can include the trust rating too.

How to get the trust rating? That's exactly what social networks are: networks of trust. Pick some obvious trustworthy nodes to start, expand from there with diminishing trust as you get further away, increasing trust the more connections there are to someone who's trustworthy, and so on... there's probably a zillion great algorithms to calculate this.

Solving the problem of trust would basically solve the problem of identity, since identity (in real life as well as online) is a product of a trust network.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#115
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people compare Facebook to MySpace, but isn't AOL also a good comparison? Remember all the companies that were AOL keywords. Now they have Facebook pages. AOL has a messenger, now Facebook does. It just strikes me as AOL for the 21st century.

I actually got to pose the question (live and in-person), "Isn't Facebook the new AOL?" to Steve Case last week.

What was his reply?

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#116
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people compare Facebook to MySpace, but isn't AOL also a good comparison? Remember all the companies that were AOL keywords. Now they have Facebook pages. AOL has a messenger, now Facebook does. It just strikes me as AOL for the 21st century.

I actually got to pose the question (live and in-person), "Isn't Facebook the new AOL?" to Steve Case last week.

[deleted]

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#117
post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is @gmail.com somehow more distinguished?

@gmail.com is no @jdoe.net, but imho it's probably one of the most respectable free email domains.

Hi, one quick question: If you use @jdoe.net because it looks more professional, what would you use for the local part of the address? Does e.g. contact@jdoe.net look better than jdoe@gmail.com? I'm thinking when used for job applications and such.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#118
post #32

I've always thought that Facebook could make a real difference by becoming a central hub to control your "persona" or identity so to speak. Facebook could integrate with every other service and app under the sun, and users would not require to input information (any more then their Facebook uri) to register for anything. Instead they're trying to undercut Google by keeping them out of the 'shared data' agreement and…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodigy_%28online_service%29

Is MySpace dead? Prodigy is, so is kozmo.com, and broadcast.com.

My money is on Amazon. No other network has as many users associated with credit cards as Amazon, as well as written reviews by 'authorized' users.

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#119
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people compare Facebook to MySpace, but isn't AOL also a good comparison? Remember all the companies that were AOL keywords. Now they have Facebook pages. AOL has a messenger, now Facebook does. It just strikes me as AOL for the 21st century.

I actually got to pose the question (live and in-person), "Isn't Facebook the new AOL?" to Steve Case last week.

"Actually, it reminds me of Prodigy." - Steve Case

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prodigy_%28online_service%29

Re: Facebook’s Gmail Killer, Project Titan, Is Coming On Monday

#120
post #53

Does anyone have any decent info on which free mail service is the most popular? I know a fair amount of people use any mixture of hotmail, gmail and yahoo. Perhaps 'killing gmail' isn't as big as killing hotmail/live/badabingmail.

Fairly recent [1] stats seem to point to:

  hotmail:  360m+ active accounts
  yahoo:    275m+ active accounts
  Gmail in 3rd, followed by AOL webmail [2}
Although yahoo! mail seems to have a more active user base as it's ahead on most site ranking systems [3].

Sources: [1] http://www.email-marketing-reports.com/metrics/email-statist... [2] http://techcrunch.com/2009/08/14/gmail-nudges-past-aol-email... [3] http://www.hitwise.com/us/datacenter/main/dashboard-10133.ht...

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