Unsurprisingly, Gmail’s team is already working hard at integrating their service with Google+ – and vice verca. Mark Striebeck, a Google Engineer on the Gmail team, indicated that the company is “working on several Gmail / Google+ integrations.” Those changes are still in a brainstorming phase, however, with the company seeking more information.
Striebeck specifically asks, “What email features would make it easier to interact with Google+?,” “”How could we integrate Google+ features into Gmail?,” and “How can we integrate social concepts in Gmail to make the email experience itself better?” Want to give your feedback? Striebeck is currently running “focus groups” in 15-minute blocks on Google+ itself, and while the first round of these video chat discussions has already filled up (due to a “crush of interest”), Striebeck also indicates that “There will be more!” Further, users can comment on the public threads (linked below), message Striebeck directly on Google+, or fill out this suggestion form.
Some are thrilled by this possibility of integration, and especially the implications it may have for “modernizing” the way we think of email. MG Siegler of Tech Crunch stated that email, “compared to tools like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, etc, email seems a bit like watching black and white television in a world of 1080p flatscreens. I hate it. I’d like it to die.” Whether Google+ integration will actually cause the time-tested concept of email to wilt is another question, and one that I’d answer with a “no.” While we may be able to use Facebook or Twitter for communication purposes, what serious business discussions really happen via tweets?
[Sources include: Tech Crunch & Google+ Posts]
