Computerworld — Given the growth of social networking services such as Facebook and Twitter, and the increasing use of collaboration tools such as Microsoft (MSFT) SharePoint, you may begin to wonder whether e-mail's day in the sun is coming to an end.

E-Mail Technology Definition and Solutions
E-Mail Management Definition and Solutions

Once the primary way we communicated electronically, e-mail has begun to seem less central to our daily lives. It feels as if a tipping point has been reached. Businesses recognize the power of social networking sites to attract customers, build buzz and perform sophisticated research, and they see that collaboration tools can allow employees to work with one another and with people outside the company.

E-mail, it seems, is no longer the center of the universe. So is it time to say goodbye to it as the core of business and personal communication? Will e-mail go the way of the physically mailed letter -- useful for certain purposes, but not the primary way that people keep in touch and collaborate?

Not if Microsoft or Google (GOOG) has its way. Both companies -- and other, smaller ones -- recognize the power of social networking and collaboration tools and understand how they're endangering e-mail. And both are looking at ways to merge them with traditional e-mail and make e-mail once again the center of the communications universe.

In the world envisioned by Microsoft and Google, e-mail would become a hub for all electronic communications. It would merge all contacts from all services into one location, allow you to interact with others on social networking sites without leaving your e-mail client or service, and aggregate all communication, including collaboration, in one location.

Both Microsoft and Google have already taken initial steps toward making it happen, as have other companies. Microsoft, for example, recently released the beta of Outlook Social Connector, which links Outlook to social networking sites. An individual connector is already available for LinkedIn, and one is in the works for Facebook. You can expect one for Twitter as well. The Outlook Social Connector will ship as part of Outlook 2010 and is available as a free download for Outlook 2003 and 2007.

Microsoft has also released detailed information about Outlook's .pst file structure so other developers can write applications for it and link to it -- and don't be surprised if a good number of those applications are related to social networking.

Google, meanwhile, released Google Buzz, a somewhat confusing tool designed to integrate social networking with Gmail. Surprisingly, this is one instance where Microsoft has done a better jobthan Google, but expect future versions of Buzz to be more impressive.

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