As expected, Facebook unveiled a new messaging system called "Messages" early this week that the company clearly has high hopes for. The new system essentially fuses the capabilities of multiple communication platforms such as text messages, instant messaging chat and email into a single interface--all of which will be accessible from within the messaging center on a user's page. "This is not an email killer," stressed the social networking giant. "This is a messaging system that has email as part of it."

The genesis of Messages apparently came from teenagers, according to Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. When quizzed on their preferred communication channels, email was typically being dismissed as being "too slow." Yet email is often the preferred medium of choice for those who are older. Bearing this logic in mind, Facebook wants to combine everything into one platform so that users need only focus solely on the message and the person to send it.

The idea, as Director of Engineering Andrew Bosworth put it, "is to have one history" that is arranged in context regardless of medium. Zuckerberg probably sums it up best when he said: "We're just making it so there's a single conversation history with each person." And yes, Facebook will also be giving out @facebook.com email addresses, which will default to one's public Facebook username. And before you rush to login, company says that its new system is being rolled out "very slowly" and is invite-only for now.

In other news, Facebook says Messages is its largest engineering project in the history of the company. Bosworth was quoted boasting, "We have small, really quick engineering teams. This is the biggest engineering team we've ever built around a new product, and it's still only 15 engineers."

For more on this story:
- check out this article at Forbes Blogs
- check out this article at Ars Technica
- check out this article at The Register

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