Upon my late wake up today, I saw the news through Mashable.com (click for full article) that Facebook had unveiled a new “product” today. If you’re at this page, you probably know that it’s the new messages mail that’s not email system (I still don’t fully understand it).
I was admittedly a little bit tired still so I wasn’t sure exactly what I was reading but eventually I came to a spot that somewhat got under my skin. Below is the direct quote from Mashable’s article so I’m not quite sure how accurate it is….but if this is really what Zuckerberg shared, then I fear for future generations and the existence of patience:
Zuckerberg recounted conversations with high schoolers where youngsters told him e-mail is too slow and that they prefer SMS and Facebook to sending e-mails.
E-mail is too SLOW? When did INSTANT become too slow? I’m assuming they mean emails with large attachments, but that can’t be the case considering that they’re using SMS and Facebook because they’re faster. SMS is just as slow or slower than email when sending a large picture…and Facebook can’t send more than a link which requires hosting of some sort and, thus, takes longer than email.
I’m unsure about if Zuckerberg was misquoted because the comment simply doesn’t make ANY sense to me. The only way you could contrive this as a correct statement makes the terminology used incorrect. Facebook is not any faster than email in my experience(unless your provider is having some sort of hiccup which is just as possible and, in most casses, as common as with Facebook) but our high schoolers are on Facebook many times more (in terms of minutes and hours) in comparison to email. I can’t quite think of the terminology that would best fit this type of thinking, but I don’t believe that the case is email being slower, but rather that Facebook is perceived as faster due to the subject being logged in and actively viewing the website for what is likely 5, 10, or even 15 times (if not more in some cases) more than the alternative.
I think it’d be interesting to test the theory though. Is Facebook really faster than email? Using simple text with no images, links, etc., I’d like to race the two. I don’t have the resources to do so myself but I think the result would be interesting. It would have to be done with Gmail since it’s probably the most common free email service and undoubtedly what high schoolers are using the most.
I have no problem with Facebook and I really never have. The constant drastic redesigns get annoying to me just as they do to everyone, but I don’t feel as if my privacy has ever been violated or that they’re “helping the man to get me” like some super paranoid folks do. I don’t understand the point in this new system and I doubt I’ll use it very often and that was far from the basis of my post.
I guess my biggest problem is just the thought of “what is slow.” These day, smart phones are becoming more common and emails are being delivered anywhere from instantaneously to within 30 minutes of sending — barring flaws in the system such as signal strength, data coverage, and data outages. Seeing something that is, to me, instantaneous getting called slow is just incredible to me.
Louis C.K. had a bit come out in the past year or two talking about life and how it’s changed since he was a child. One of the funniest parts (to me) of the bit is when he talks about the youth of America and their impatience. “It’s too slowwww.” “IT’S SENDING A MESSAGE TO SPACE!!”
