A peek at Facebook's new @facebook.com email service

Earlier this month, Neowin reported that Facebook had announced a new email service in which they would provide their 350 million active users with @facebook.com email addresses.

It was said to differentiate itself from other mail services by having social networking at the forefront of the service. Unlike other mail services, it would have a chat-like service so users can communicate with each other in real time.

It was possible to request a @facebook.com email on the day of the announcement, but progress has been slow.

Exclusive to Neowin, we have acquired some first sights of the service in action, in which we see the ability to attach files and take a picture of video. Many are predicting the service will follow the same idea as the current message system, which uses threaded messaging.

After all the theories over why Facebook purchased fb.com it became clear after they explained that Facebook staff would receive a @fb.com email address, while the rest of us use @facebook.com.

Although Facebook have 350 million active users with an overall total of just over 550 million, one could question whether this mail service will take off. For business purposes, one would think a @facebook.com email could seem unprofessional which raises the ultimate question, will this service take off as well as they are predicting?

You can request your invitation here, though it could be a while before you can actively use it.

Thanks to forum member David for tipping us!