Facebook says new messaging service will make email addresses obsolete

Facebook has predicted that its new messaging service will make phone numbers and email addresses obsolete.

By Peter Hutchison and Emma Barnett 7:00AM GMT 16 Nov 2010

In a posting on the Facebook blog after the launch of the social network’s new messaging service, Joel Seligstein, a engineer at the company, said: "Relatively soon, we'll probably all stop using arbitrary ten digit numbers and bizarre sequences of characters to contact each other.

"We will just select friends by name and be able to share with them instantly. We aren't there yet, but the changes today are a small first step.

At the launch of Facebook's new messaging service earlier Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder and chief executive, called

email "too slow and formal"