Fw: FW: Re: Facebook Email and the Generation Gap
from voices.washingtonpost.com
Folks have been all a-twitter, err, aflutter this weekend about the pending announcement of Facebook‘s launch into email. Well, maybe not most folks…no one has mentioned it to me in person. But those folks who follow the news over the weekend or keep up with technology definitely seem to know about it.
The details won’t be out until after tomorrow’s event, but here’s what I’ll be looking for: an email service that’s flat-out better than Hotmail or Yahoo, and at least on par with Gmail. Plus, it needs to be dead simple to use, at least at a basic level.
That’s because there’s a generation gap when it comes to Facebook. Many older users, which make up the fastest-growing demographic of new users, have told me they think Facebook is “just another email inbox that I’ve got to check now.” With full email capability, Facebook will have an opportunity to convince these users that it should be their only inbox, allowing them to finally explore the complete set of features and interaction offered by Facebook (and emerging media as a whole).
It could be a great way to bring a reluctant market aboard, but what will it take to convince the holdouts to drop their @aol addresses and get social? A painless migration process? Less spam? A killer app? Share your thoughts in the comments or @barryfuchs.
