A number of posts have come in response to Saul Hansell’s (New York Times) article titled Inbox 2.0: Yahoo and Google to Turn E-Mail Into a Social Network and Wall Street Journal’s Will Social Features Make Email Sexy Again . AlwaysOn’s Brad Feld, for example, suggested that Microsoft may have a play by probing your Exchange server for social networking “data” in his post: Where is Microsoft In This Party? Others like Carmen Hughes (IgnitePR) see this as heralding the second coming of Email in her post: Is Email really Cool Again? Obvious because of what we do (allow users to share content via email and the web), we read these with some interest. Here are some of my observations, thoughts and predications on the subject of social networking and email:

• The idea isn’t a new one
  A number of companies have tried to use data in your inbox to create a social network. Spoke Software, Visible Path, and Plaxo are some “old names” you probably still recognize. Unfortunately, given their market focus and other factors, none have become a household name or gained any sizeable market share, just something to keep in mind.
• Data is not relationship
  Sure, social relationship “data” could potentially be gleamed by probing your email or even your exchange server. Other than the obvious security concerns, the idea that “he emails me, therefore he is my friend” doesn’t necessarily hold much water. With more and more “social networking” communication being done through the Web (or via other devices such as cellphone), looking only at email doesn’t give you a complete picture. Also, the WSJ article points out that most young people use the MySpace and Facebook inbox more than they use email.

Here is what I believe is more likely to happen:

• Social networks and email become better integrated
  True, social networks already have an inbox, but one can envision better integration between email and social networks. The WSJ article points to some great features Yahoo! is experimenting with such as profile info within your email and a “friend finder” based on email communications.

• Social networks will become email providers
  It isn’t very difficult to turn your social networking inbox into a full-blown email client. Sure you’ll need a couple extra thousand servers to handle a load, but companies like Facebook and MySpace can easily afford it. All they have to do is give users an email address they can use (john@user.myspace.com or sam@facebook.net). Ironically, perhaps email, not social networking, is the feature.

• You wont’ win the social networking war with an email client!
  Its always fun to get excited about second comings but the hype is probably going to die down soon. What do Yahoo!, Google and MSN have in common? Social-networking envy. None of the them have a thriving social network of their own (yet). Sure you can improve your offering by integrated social networking features with your traffic-leading product (email) but its probably not going to win the social networking war.