Is Email Old News?

An area of technology that interests me, and many others, is the relationship between email and social networks.  The main question being:  will social networks replace, compliment, or converge with, email?  An article entitled   ‘Is Email Old News?  Social Networks as the New Communications Channel’   sums up some of the main points surrounding this question.  Social networks, like Facebook, My Space, and Linkedin, are the new kids in town, and they have huge communities of people sharing information between them. The phenomenon of social networks has arrived at a time when people question emails effectiveness.

To the question:  are social networks replacing email? They conclude in short, no.  The authors spoke with communication consultants and found the view of many that they perceive social networks as a useful communication channel as an adjunct to email, rather than a replacement.

How to the two medium compare?

Social Networks:

1.       They can expand your audience. Social networks can target messages to specific audiences, but can also actively seek out connections, post to their profiles, and make friend-to-friend connections.

2.       They help spread the word fast. Social networks are viral by nature letting people spread compelling messages to an ever expanding group.

3.       They appear more informal. Social networks are a more informal way of communication, and are more like communication between friends.

Email:

1.       It reaches most people. Social networks are growing fast but still lots of people don’t use them at all, but most do have email.

2.       It lets you send messages to specific groups.

3.       Email is a strong and proven method of communication.

Conclusion:

The authors conclude that email is still effective and not going away anytime soon. Social networks are on the other hand  a great way to expand a constituency and outreach. Once expanded email, they say, is the best way to develop these relationships. The authors appear to see email and social networks as complimentary.

Another article on the same subject area, ‘Email and Social Networking Will Converge by 2014’ takes a more ‘techie’ look at the area. This article takes the question further and sees a convergence of the two media in the future.

Link to:   ‘Is Email Old News?  Social Networks as the New Communications Channel’  

http://www.idealware.org/articles/Is_Email_Old_News.php

Link to:   ‘Email and Social Networking Will Converge by 2014’

http://www.cmswire.com/cms/enterprise-collaboration/email-and-social-networking-will-converge-by-2014-009206.php