It's the end of email, Zuckers

So Facebook's new product is signalling the end of email, is it?

I suppose you have to salute Mark Zuckerberg - after all he does dominate the world of social media.

But Facebook is hardly making any money, it's rivals are collapsing around it, and presumably he needs plenty more investment to carry on. So statements, and products such as his new chat mail are inevitable - but perhaps to be taken with a pinch of salt.

His comment, for example, that subject lines are so formal is a good example of where he is going wrong. Subject lines are vital in deciding what messages to read, and when.

Zuckerberg may be a visionary. He may be predicting the future. But in doing so he is missing the present. Email, even in it's purest form is still an evolving tool - both for ordinary communications, and for business marketing.

Very few businesses have Facebook predominant audiences, but most have email based ones. Very few companies have so far really worked out how to use Facebook as a marketing tool with any great degree of success. Quite a lot are getting the hang of email.

Facebook still blurs too much the distinction between private and business - it's use during office hours is frowned upon by too many right now.

So here's to you, Mr Zuckerberg. The only way you can be a presence in the email market is to try and change it, and we salute you for trying. But the end of email? Not yet, methinks.