AOL allows third-party Webmail, end of world is nigh

A surprise for AOL.com visitors today (all three of you): you can now access your Yahoo Mail and GMail accounts from the AOL home page. The idea is that this makes the AOL.com more "sticky" because you will keep coming back to read about the antics of country superstars and the 15 most embarrassing moments of drunken celebrities and still read your mail.

I'm sure after the shock wears off from this announcement, people just sit down and start breathing again, and Wall Street gets back on its feat after being blown over by the news, we'll start realizing how the move is another sign that AOL is going down in flames.

Why is that? For starters, the AOL brand has been all about proprietary access - my AOL mail, my AOL news, my AOL everything. Admitting that there are other sites out there that let you receive e-mail on the Web exposes AOL as just another cluttered, superfluous home page for those who don't know any better. It was one thing when AOL made you think the only world that exists is AOL. If you can get your information, and your mail, from other sources, then why do we still need AOL?

The short answer is: I'm not sure we do anymore. AOL was the early hand-holding agent who guided us through the rough waters of the Internet, and kept all the nefarious sites safely hidden. Web users are savvier now and can fend off smutty sites without extra help. Aggregators such as PageFlakes do a much better job of integrating content anyway. Even having an AOL e-mail account today tells everyone you are a newbie. As I've said before, AOL needs to invent something new, not just add new widgets and reveal to the world that they have no idea how to create innovative services.

And here's another plan. What if AOL admits they can't make any compelling Web services and goes back to the hand-holding? Make AOL the guide of the Internet, protecting users from the wild side of the Net, suggesting helpful sites, providing broadband. They can't sit on the fence because they are getting knocked off repeatedly. Make AOL the new Wonderhowto of the Web, and get your user base to contribute to this goal. Make it cool to have an AOL account again because it is a way of letting people know you are new, not dumb, or that you are a contributor to the cause. Make AOL synonymous with learning and teaching the Web.