Google adds primary, social, and promotion tabs to the Gmail inbox

If you, like me, use Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOG) Gmail email service nearly all day for work and personal contacts, you may have be slightly overwhelmed with the quantity of emails that pour into your inbox day after day. However, Google as always, is looking to make your life a little simpler through an enhanced version of its already world renowned email platform. Earlier this year the company announced it would be begin rolling out a new email platform which will allow its user to automatically sort their email to better manage their personal and private lives. The platform will split your home screen into 5 categories which are Primary, Social, Promotions, Updates, and Forums. Each of these new categories will then automatically receive emails related to that category.

So what could this possibly mean for the company itself?

While it is too soon to make predictions regarding the success of the switch, I have found myself since forgetting about the additional social and promotional tabs. If other users are experiencing the same behavior, it may unfortunately hurt Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) and LinkedIn (NYSE:LNKD) on a secondary note. I do wonder however, is Google trying to raise its CPM higher on its Gmail platform by further targeting its ads to a specific audience. I feel Google may try to monetize the split window display by offering advertisers the ability to hit our inbox’s with “special offers” or “promotions” within the top of our split window displays.

Going into the next earnings report, it will be interesting to see if management gives us more clarity regarding the possible monetization of the new service. Google will report its second quarter earnings after the stock market close on Thursday. Analysts covering the stock estimate the company will generate $10.79 in earnings per share per share this quarter, roughly and 8.4% increase in earnings on a year over year basis. Since the end of last quarter however, its cost per click revenues have declined, though market share has remained stable at 66.7%. The newest Gmail platform could simply be yet another push by Google to stay relevant in the increasingly competitive search engine business segment.