Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg talking about the site's new email service back in 2010. AP Photo/Paul Sakuma
See Ya

Facebook pulls the plug on its email service everyone forgot about

Wait, Facebook had an email service?

DID YOU KNOW Facebook had its own email service? If you didn’t, it doesn’t matter any longer as the site is retiring it.

Those who use the service have received an notification from Facebook saying that all email sent to their @facebook.com account is forwarded onto their primary email address on file. Users can turn off the forwarding feature, which is switched on by default, if they wish.

Those who don’t have a primary email address won’t receive them, although the chances of you missing anything is rather slim.

A Facebook spokesperson told The Verge that the reason behind the move was because “most people have not been using their @facebook.com email address.”

The feature, which was launched back in 2010, was Facebook’s attempt at adding email to its list of services.

However, a number of factors such as the lack of support from Facebook, it being wedged into messages, and the lack of traditional email features such as cc, bcc or subject lines meant it was mostly ignored by users.

The company got into trouble back in 2012 when it made @facebook.com the primary address for all users, while hiding their real email address. The company reversed the decision after it was criticised for not telling users about the change and favouring its own email service over others

Read: WhatsApp, data compression and Snapchat: What we learned from Zuckerberg’s keynote >

Read: This huge security flaw affects (nearly) all iPhones, iPads, and Apple computers >

Your Voice
Readers Comments
10
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.