Facebook Kills Off Its Email Service

Facebook has quietly retired the email service that many users didn't even know existed. The service—touted as a "Gmail killer" before its launch in 2010—never caught on and the company has now notified users than any email sent to their @facebook.com address will be redirected to the primary email address associated with their account, the Verge reports. "We're making this change because most people haven’t been using their Facebook email address, and we can focus on improving our mobile messaging experience for everyone," Facebook says.

But even with the service killed off, users are stuck with what Josh Constine at TechCrunch calls "the death-stench of Facebook’s defunct attempt to conquer email." The other email addresses Facebook banished from profiles in favor of its own email address remain hidden, he notes, advising people to turn off Facebook's automatic email forwarding. If you don't, "anyone will be able to get your Facebook username by finding your profile’s URL and sticking it in front of @facebook.com to be able to hit your real email address with a message," he warns. (More Facebook stories.)