The Death of Email? Hardly.

Check out this article about the death of email.  The death of email by Facebook's "Project Titan," which supposedly combines "email, SMS, chat and Facebook email," according to GfK.  Apparently, this combination of services could be the next Google.  But GfK NOP, after conducting an online survey, says otherwise.  The survey found that those users most likely to be wooed away were using Hotmail and Yahoo for their email accounts.  About a third of current Facebook users would consider using the service.  Interestingly, Google users were more likely to consider using a Facebook messaging service alongside their current Gmail account.

I found the survey results to be most interesting in highlighting the different approaches people toward messaging services.  Having used Facebook to send messages, I am not impressed by its design.  Therefore, I have trouble imagining that Facebook would excel at any of the above services, let alone all of them simultaneously.  In this sense, it's not surprising that Yahoo and Hotmail users would switch to Facebook's services because Yahoo and Hotmail don't offer great email service (I know from experience).  As a Gmail user, I have found that the integration of email, documents, calendar, etc. has made organization easier.  The Gmail feature where a conversation thread is kept together is also very useful, helpful, and efficient.  Clearly, Gmail users will not abandon these services for the ones provided by Facebook.  This is my opinion, but Google account users are often more technologically literate and savvy, so it's not surprising that Google users would use the Facebook services alongside Google services.

Another good point presented by GfK: will businesses want email addresses that have @facebook on them?  How professional would an @facebook email look when applying for a job?  Hah!