I got a very nice surprise when I checked my “Messages” on facebook a few minutes ago.

I was prompted to create my facebook mail and was done in about 2-3 steps. This might be old news but as far as I can remember, facebook started gradually rolling this out late last year and maybe it was just really unexpected, I had to blog about it.

Anyway, what happened was there was a pop up message saying that I need to upgrade to the new “Facebook Messages”. I clicked the button and it showed my profile username (facebook.com/profileusername) and stated that my facebook email address will be the same as my profile username (e.g. profileusername@facebook.com). I clicked next and was told that emails/messages from my friends would appear in “Messages” link and emails/messages from non-confrimed friends would appear on the “Other” link. After completing these steps, it displayed the different ways on how I can be contacted/sent messages.

So what changed?

Aside from the changes in the way messages are handled mentioned above, messages coming from emails and chat messages share the same interface. You can reply on either chat box or main Messages window. There is a quick reply mode where if the check box is ticked, all key presses on the enter key sends the message immediately or if unticked, gives a new line instead. You can also attach a file or take a picture or video before sending.

Just for fun, I tried sending myself an email and here’s the header details from GMail: