Can Facebook Replace Web Email ?

WSJ - In August Facebook began allowing its users to send messages from their Facebook accounts to regular email addresses by typing the email address into the box where they normally type the name of a fellow Facebook user.

Mr. Divvela grew up with email but now spends less time on it, using Facebook as an email replacement. He especially likes one Facebook feature: When he pastes a link to an interesting article in a Facebook message, Facebook automatically fetches the article’s headline and any photos that ran with it and attaches them to the message. When he sends a link to an online video, the recipient can watch the video within the message without having to click the link.

Some social-networking executives say what draws people to their services involves more than just email and messaging services with user profiles bolted onto them. Facebook users can indicate which of their friends are pictured in a photo they have posted, and Facebook automatically notifies those friends about the photo, for example. Users can also keep track of their friends’ social calendars, alongside their own. Link.