Facebook to discontinue facebook.com e

Facebook will soon be discontinuing its troubled @facebook.com e-mail service and has already started notifying some users of the impending change. Existing users will soon have their @facebook.com messages forwarded to the primary e-mail address on file while those without a primary address simply won't have messages forwarded to them.

Originally launched in late 2010, the social network hoped the e-mail service would eventually put established providers like AOL, Google, Microsoft and Yahoo out to pasture. Facebook argued that traditional services were simply too slow and too cumbersome but their vision simply never came to pass.

Facebook said they are making the change because most people haven't been using their Facebook e-mail address and they want to make it easier to view all messages in one place. Additionally, the change will allow them to focus on improving their mobile messaging experience.

It's worth noting that message forwarding is enabled by default. Unfortunately, this means that someone can now reach your primary inbox simply by sending a message to your Facebook e-mail account. Such addresses are only visible to friends but as The Verge points out, it's not difficult to figure out another person's address by plugging in their profile page URL before the @ symbol.

The good news is that forwarding can be disabled completely, a move that will effectively shut down the service once and for all.