About.me rolls out branded email addresses to its users

Update at foot of post

AOL-owned, about.me has just rolled out a new feature that it’s beta testing – @about.me email addresses. While @about.me addresses were previously only used by team members, they’re extending the service to anyone who has an account.

Your username will become your email address, and you can send and receive emails, and see your incoming messages in your about.me dashboard. About.me’s email also supports IMAP and POP, so you can plug in your email address into your preferred email client.

Log in to your about.me account, and go to ‘Offers’ to claim your email address now.

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Of course about.me’s email is powered by AOL, so if you go to your main inbox, this is what you’re going to see:

That said, you can still compose, read and reply to messages from links in about.me.

About.me’s move may encourage more people to use AOL’s email, but at the same time, how many people are actually willing to ditch their preferred email service for this? While there is certainly a convenience in having an email address that ties directly into what is essentially a virtual business card, I’d guess that people are more likely to set up their about.me address, and simply forward all messages to their main email account.

If nothing else, if you managed to snag your first name for your about.me account, it will definitely make for a cool email address that’s very easy to share.

Update: It appears that About.me is gradually rolling out this service to its users. It won’t be visible in your offers until you receive an email prompting you to claim your address and activate the service.