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Facebook to revamp messaging service

SAN FRANCISCO - Facebook will unveil changes to its messaging system at a press event on Monday, according to a person familiar with the matter.

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The changes to the messaging service will be “across the board,” the person said, a move that could further escalate the competition between the world’s No. 1 Internet social networking site and Google Inc.

Google, which controls roughly two-thirds of the global search market, offers the third-most popular Web email service, behind Microsoft Corp and Yahoo Inc, according to Web analytics firm comScore. Last week, Google began blocking Facebook from importing user contact data from its Gmail email service.

A report on the technology-focused blog TechCrunch on Friday said that Facebook, whose social networking service has more than 500 million users, will introduce a full-fledged Web-based email product on Monday along with providing users @facebook.com email addresses.

A Facebook representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Earlier this week, Facebook emailed reporters an invitation to a “special event” in San Francisco on Monday, Nov. 15, which the company said was being held in advance of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s talk at the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco the following day.

While the invitation did not offer any details about what will be discussed at the event, the design of the invitation featured a checkered blue-and-red border similar to classic air mail envelopes, sparking speculation on many technology-focused blogs.