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Facebook shuts email service, will forward emails to your inbox

After making several attempts to get users to use its email service, Facebook is finally throwing in the towel, citing low user numbers.

By Ananth Baliga
Facebook users have given its email service a thumbs down, resulting in the company discontinuing the service. UPI/Terry Schmitt
Facebook users have given its email service a thumbs down, resulting in the company discontinuing the service. UPI/Terry Schmitt | License Photo

MENLO PARK, Calif., Feb. 25 (UPI) -- Not many knew that they had a Facebook email address, but the company has retired the failed email service, citing low user numbers.

And their solution will not please you. Facebook plans to forwards emails sent to your @facebook.com email address to the inbox of a user's primary email address, used while signing up for the social network. The company said that users will have the option to turn off the forwarding service and those without a primary email address listed will not receive any emails.

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But it is unlikely you will get many emails forwarded to your inbox.

"Most people have not been using their @facebook.com email address," said a Facebook spokesperson, who confirmed the new update.

The service launched back in 2010, hoped to provide users a way to send emails to fellow Facebook users. There was no need to register for the service and every user was given an email address in the format of [username]@facebook.com.

This meant that anybody with access to your your username, easily accessible using the search tool on Facebook, could send you an email and now possibly email your personal address. But Facebook has said they will limit the number of emails a 'non-friend' can send.

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"We limit the number of messages a person can receive in their inbox from people they're not connected to," a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable. "We also have systems in place to detect spam, and will not forward messages that we think are spam. The external email provider will also do their own spam checks."

This move is similar to an announcement by Google that said that anyone on Google+ could email your Gmail account without knowing your email address. Facebook also announced in 2012, that they would replace a user's primary email address on their profile with the @facebook.com address. Both companies faced a violent backlash from its users.

Facebook's recent move is sure to generate criticism because not many users will be happy that an unknown user can email their personal inbox, using the now defunct @facebook.com email address.

[Mashable] [The Verge]

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