I think the answer might be if Facebook believed that the fax to email services will render fax machines obsolete but not fax numbers....
* right now when someone faxes my number it forwards to my email via PDF ...
- I think if you forwarded me a photo to that fax number I might get the color photo via pdf?
... If they saw this happening and added it to their site / then filed for a patent of "Faxing photos from website" - then perhaps licensing would ensue or business models would be evolve...
* I also think partnering with Efax is spammy as they spam my inbox a lot.
thats my best reasoning which leads me to feel as "WTF?" as every other commenter so far
[edit] I feel like such a dumbass for actually trying to explain their ridiculous joke / might mean I've been talking a little too much with out 'knowing'.
Which leads to their next cool feature that will allow you to instantly hire an artist to go to your friends' houses and draw a copy of the photo on their sidewalk, in chalk. Pure Sweetness.
Only makes sense that it's 1) a joke or 2) there's a deal with efax for...cash. Not sure what else efax could provide. Maybe free premium accounts for all facebook employees?
In the comments they were trying to figure out (before they realised the hoax) why would anyone possibly want this feature.
You realise that anything that applies to facebook faxes applies to fax in general. What they come up with is that some non tech people don't email. But how many of these have fax machines? Who uses faxe machines and why.
If you need to send a 'pen and paper' document or form to someone and you don't have a scanner or a photocopying machine which can make digital copies, then faxing is an option.
I don't think faxes are any cheaper or easier then scanners (even though I've seen print/scan/copy/fax machines for under $50, so it isn't much of a point).
I guess that is my question is Why would someone have a fax machine? The only answer I can think of is to send faxes to companies that prefer them. The question is then why does any company prefer to receive a fax? Why do they still exist?
Proving once again just how many phone calls techcrunch makes before posting stories containing "facts" and opinions drawn from those "facts". If anyone here works for a startup in the bay area, you'll know the answer is generally absolutely none.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/09/10/yeah-ok-so-facebook-pun...
Great study in knee-jerk reactions