Facebook Email: Simple Improvements, Please!

By Mari Smith | January 27, 2008 |

Have you noticed an increase in your volume of email since joining Facebook? Hello!? I sure have. And, mostly, it’s a good thing because I’m meeting so many phenomenal new people.

However, I’m finding it a challenge to keep up with responses – 114 unopened emails last count, oh – strike that, now 115 since I started writing this post! I just can’t get to everyone, sorry. (If you’ve written to me and I haven’t responded yet, please do send me another note to let me know you’d like a response.)

I gotta say though, Facebook’s email system is soooo broken:

I can’t forward, blind copy, or archive to folders.
There’s no way to search emails for key words or people.
I can’t unsubscribe from Group emails, unless I leave the Group.
And, here’s a kicker: If I’m part of a previously existing thread of multiple recipients, even after BLOCKING one of the people in the list – their responses STILL show up in my Inbox. Arrrgh. C’mon Facebook – that’s a loophole in the blocking system.

When you block someone you become almost invisible to each other. Now, with this ongoing thread continuing to land in my Inbox – I see no way to get rid of it!! Darn annoying.

I need to dig out my copy of Getting Things Done by David Allen again. I just checked and have 27 pages of emails, totaling 525 threads. Ugh!! Truth is, I never go back beyond the first couple pages, so I may as well delete the old ones. But, my Inbox is doubling as my archives. Yet I can’t search. Hm, maybe I’m a hoarder?! 😉

How about you – what do you love and hate about Facebook email? Have you found any secret tricks to managing the volume or filing for reference?

BTW, I gotta share – one of the *main* things I love about Facebook email is when I contact a well-known successful person, I get a response right away. It’s like fellow (most) Facebook members feel a rapport, a trust, an instant connection as if we’re members of the same club, so to speak. I got to interview internet multi-millionaire, Matt Bacak, and he told me point blank we would not have had the discussion had I tried to reach him any other way. Now that’s powerful! Kudos to Facebook.

Mari Smith

Often referred to as “the Queen of Facebook,” Mari Smith is widely known as the Premier Facebook Marketing Expert and a top Social Media Thought Leader. Forbes describes Mari as, “… the preeminent Facebook expert. Even Facebook asks for her help.” IBM named Mari as one of seven women that are shaping digital marketing. Mari is an in-demand keynote speaker, corporate social media strategist, dynamic live webcast host, and popular brand ambassador. She is coauthor of Facebook Marketing: An Hour A Day, and author of The New Relationship Marketing.

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