Facebook recently updated its iPhone application, and the most disruptive feature, in my estimation, is the inclusion of push notifications as an option.  Up until this point, I’ve received certain Facebook notifications via email, to be sure I didn’t miss important information, invitations, or messages from personal and business contacts.

The thing is, notifications are just that - a notice.  And via email, especially for gmail users like myself, the fact that they exist after reading is somewhat counter intuitive.

Push notifications are perfect for this.  My phone vibrates, and more or less says ‘if you care, check this area of your Facebook account’ at which point I have the option of viewing the content on my phone, or ignoring the message.

This has me reconsidering the point of notification emails.  Email is used not because it fits the job, but because it is constant: nearly everyone has an email address, and they will check it more regularly than they will other messaging platforms.  Where text notifications wouldn’t provide enough utility (for me) a push notification sends home a very clear message - this information should not be durable, and in fact, shouldn’t be sent in a durable medium.

I’ve turned off all of my Facebook email notifications, to see if there is actually a downside for receiving these messages to my phone in a non-durable fashion.  But off the top of my head, this is a simple way to eliminate a lot of the inbox clutter I (and probably you) face on a day to day basis.  Push notifications to a mobile application, from all of my social platforms, would probably cut my email by about 25%.