Facebook E-mail - Just Say No

The rumor mills are swirling at warp speed with news that Facebook is set to launch its own e-mail service tomorrow. The so-called Fmail (formerly known as Project Titan, or Facebook's Gmail killer) is seen as another front in the growing war between Google and Facebook for dominance of the web services world.

Why is this so important? I'll be overly simple: Because whoever gets more people like you and me to spend more time hanging out online with their particular services wins the right to see more advertising.

There's way more to it than that, of course, but a titanic battle is shaping up, and Google may find itself on a slippery slope if it doesn't play this one right. Pop some popcorn, pull up a chair and enjoy the show.

Your turn: Would you use Facebook Mail? I'll pre-bias the discussion here: I would, because I can't comment on or write about things that I don't use first-hand. But I wouldn't be happy about it. Facebook's spotty record on the privacy front gives me great pause. This is the company that allows third party developers to quietly scaff personal data from your Facebook account every time you so much as answer a question online. Are you really going to trust them with your personal - and increasingly professional - correspondence?

One more thing: I discussed this very issue on-air this afternoon with John Downs, host of Newstalk 1010's Sundays with John Downs. If you're a CFRB listener who tuned in and have dropped in for a read, welcome! As this is shaping up to be a major topic for the coming week, I expect I'll be writing about it in some capacity over the next few days. Stay tuned.