Yesterday Yahoo announced its new Smarter Inbox, which adds a whole bunch of social networking stuff to your email account.  I haven’t used it, since it’s in a limited beta right now, but from what I can tell it looks like they simply duct-taped some of the features that Facebook popularized — friend invitations and third-party applications, for example — onto Yahoo Mail.  It sorta reminds me of the Mac ad with the video camera.

I know that social networks are all the rage right now.  People are beginning to think in terms of “Facebook profile” rather than “email account”.  Yahoo’s hoping that transforming Yahoo Mail into an ersatz Facebook will enable them to hold on to their current users.  But I’m not interested.

The thing that irritates me most about Facebook is the vast tsunami of useless info-crap that is dumped onto my page by other people.  I’m looking at my news feed right now and I simply Do Not Care about anything that’s been posted.  I’m sorry, but it’s a time-sink.

Email, on the other hand, is a tool.  I actually get useful information via email.  I don’t worry about spam, because both Yahoo and Gmail have good filters.  (Personally, I think Gmail’s is a bit better.)  And Gmail has useful security features and add-on tools that don’t feel as if they’re duct-taped on.

Use the right tool for the job at hand.  I have a Leatherman — the original one, not the later models that have too much stuff crammed into them.  I love it.  But I wouldn’t use it to build a house.

Submitted by: Dan Giancaterino, Education Services Manager
on December 16, 2008 - 1:45 pm

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