E-mail is a double-edged sword when it comes to productivity. The benefits of e-mail as a communications tool can easily be lost in the sea of nonsense that floods most inboxes, though--and that is after the spam is filtered out. Google is introducing a new experimental feature aimed at helping Gmail users sort it all out: Priority Inbox.
|
|
A post on the Official Google Blog clarifies the purpose of Priority Inbox. "Gmail has always been pretty good at filtering junk mail into the "spam" folder. But today, in addition to spam, people get a lot of mail that isn't outright junk but isn't very important--bologna, or "bacn." So we've evolved Gmail's filter to address this problem and extended it to not only classify outright spam, but also to help users separate this "bologna" from the important stuff. In a way, Priority Inbox is like your personal assistant, helping you focus on the messages that matter without requiring you to set up complex rules."
The Priority Inbox segregates Gmail into three different categories: "Important and Unread", "Starred", and "Everything Else". Gmail automatically filters incoming e-mail into either "Important and Unread" or "Everything Else", while the middle category is populated by those messages that have been flagged for future reference.
The process of filtering messages into the "Important and Unread" folder is similar to the concept of spam filtering, but in reverse. Google has developed an algorithm for Gmail which predicts whether or not a message is important based on a variety of criteria. Contacts you frequently e-mail, and message threads that you typically open or reply to are assumed to be higher priority. The best part, though, is that messages can be flagged as important or marked as unimportant to help Priority Inbox learn and improve over time.
Click Here to Continue Reading...
Source: Tony Bradley, PC World
