Yahoo and Google have similar designs for social inboxes

David Johnson November 14th, 2007

NYT’s Bits blog has some inside dirt on how Google and Yahoo are similar tracks to blend social networking functions into their Web mail products. While Facebook and the other Web 2.0 social service sites offer tools to import address lists so you can jumpstart your online friendliness, the big free-mail providers have already got it all going on, but navigation and transportation issues make things complicated. Brad Garlinghouse, who runs the communication and community products for Yahoo, offers this: “The inbox you have today is based on what people send you, not what you want to see.” Sounds nice, (wait for it…) BUT, social networking is based in living as an online extrovert, sharing bits and pieces of your life selectively with friends, friends-of-friends, and possibly, strangers. E-mail is a far more private affair, even considering the potential pitfalls of sneaky bccs or blind forwards. A little meditation on this reveals the value proposition inherent in social network sites that offer private messaging between members without revealing real e-mails. How the megaportals can balance this remains to be seen, but I still wish they’d turn their might against stopping spammers who abuse their systems and cost us all billions of dollars every day.