SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook trotted out an all-in-one messaging tool yesterday that pools users’ email, instant and text messages, taking on Google Inc’s and Yahoo Inc’s popular email platforms.
Addressing speculation the world’s largest social networking site was planning a “Gmail-killer,” Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said the new system will let users own “facebook.com” addresses, but stressed it did not stop at email.
It also lets users send instant and text messages in addition to standard email and Facebook notes, he said.
“This is not an email killer. This is a messaging system that includes email as one part of it,” Zuckerberg told reporters at the swanky St Regis hotel.
Zuckerberg, who said more than 350 million of Facebook’s half-billion users now actively send and receive messages on his website, did not see communications being email-based in future.
While people will not stop using email immediately, more and more will shift to an integrated, cross-platform mode of communications such as Facebook, Zuckerberg argued.
More than 4 billion messages get sent everyday through Facebook. Its new messaging platform will incorporate a number of features, including an inbox devoted to a user’s friends and contacts on Facebook, and another for other mail and messages.
Facebook and Google’s intensifying rivalry is expected to play a crucial role in shaping the future of the Internet. The industry is closely watching their pitched struggle for Web surfers’ time online, advertising dollars, and increasingly costly Silicon Valley talent.
