Facebook has terminated the email address system that gave all users a @facebook.com mailing account, citing low usage. As reported by the Verge, those that actually used the service will soon receive an email telling them that any mail sent to their @facebook.com account will be forwarded to the primary email address listed on their account.
Launched back in November 2010, the service was another effort by the social networking company to streamline all communications under a single umbrella. In a blog post at the time, Facebook engineer Joel Seligstein said:
Now people can share with friends over email, whether they’re on Facebook or not. To be clear, Messages is not email. There are no subject lines, no cc, no bcc, and you can send a message by hitting the Enter key. We modeled it more closely to chat and reduced the number of things you need to do to send a message. We wanted to make this more like a conversation.
Sounds good on paper, but unfortunately it didn’t seem to resonate with users. A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the news in a statement to the Verge, “Most people have not been using their @facebook.com email address.”
Email forwarding will be turned on by default, but users can opt-out by simply removing their primary email address from their account or simply turning it off in the settings.
The 💜 of EU tech
The latest rumblings from the EU tech scene, a story from our wise ol' founder Boris, and some questionable AI art. It's free, every week, in your inbox. Sign up now!
➤ Facebook retires its troubled @facebook.com email service (The Verge)
Photo credit: Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.