Gmail- never a dull moment

Gmail is trying to oust Yahoo as the premier e-mail provider in the world. It seems they have a team that is thinking of almost anything to raise awareness about Gmail.

The new gimmick is a video clip depicting a Gmail message being sent. It’s quite funny actually as the message seems to originate from the Googleplex making its way to points unknown. Users are asked to add video clips to the story line of the sent Gmail message. The Google geek team got in on the stichk as they accompanied the Gmail on its merry way.

Gmail is free for about the first 3 MB and seems much more user friendly than Yahoo or MSN e-mail systems. Gmail, when opened up, shows the entire page of present and past e-mails whereas Yahoo/ Hotmail seem to take a long time to load. With Gmail the page comes up very fast but that’s not all. Gmail is better in other ways as well. Gmail organizes your emails into running conversations making it easier to read past e-mails from the same sender. This is unique to the Gmail system. In addition the filter options are more powerful in the Gmail system and its anti-spam feature just seems to work better.

Nonetheless Gmail has received a lot of flack for certain features on its online e-mail system. Looking at the page one sees contextual advertising. That means that Google uses search techniques to determine which ads will appear on the Gmail page, which smacks of unnecessary intrusion into private e-mail correspondence. Google counters this charge saying that this service pays for the free e-mail system as well as providing a service for the user. They also dismiss the privacy issue saying that no one has any real information on the users that can ever be used.

The new stichk can also be advantageous to sites looking for link popularity, as a video chosen by Google will link back to YouTube where a link from a site will appear. It’s safe to say that millions of people over time will see this new video series. The lucky ones that Google chooses to be part of this promotion will benefit greatly from the exposure.