Some would say that email is being replaced; it has peaked - RSS feeds, social networking, online file storage & URL truncation (TinyURL and Snurl) are all contributors to its demise.Email is a “catch-all” for every type of communication. What has happened is it has split into more functional technologies: RSS feeds replace list servers, instant messaging replaced the instant communication and social networking replaced the distribution lists.
There are many applications that can be used to send someone a private file without using email - Google Docs, DropBox, SugarSync, ADrive, Flip Drive, Flickr, Picassa, Zoho, etc. Also, all of these programs provide you with more storage space than you could ever use, they allow for version control, give you networked backup, web access to your files from any computer with an internet connection on the planet and let you publish documents and share them with whomever you like.
Twitter, Plurk and other microblogging tools are great ways to send quick notes people and social networking applications (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) are far more advanced messaging services than our ancient email friend.
One of the latest statistics reports out of the Nielson camp states that communication through social networking is outnumbering emails sent. Nevertheless, the numbers of emails sent haven't drastically reduced.
With all that said, I can confidently say that email is far from a dying breed. I think I can convince you with one simple rhetorical question: Do you invite someone to lunch by e-mail or Twitter?
4 comments
Email may not be dead, but it is certainly not healthy and it hasn't been for years. The best approach is not to replace email with other technologies like IM and Facebook - which have their own flaws - but to make use of as many methods as possible, depending on the situation and corporate culture.
May 21, 2009 at 10:42 AMI don't think email will die any time soon - it is still the mainstay in most corporate environments. Enterprise 2.0 will take some of that away, but it won't disappear for a very long time.
May 21, 2009 at 5:53 PMThe bad news is that the primary Internet marketing system—email—is literally dying. Its death is destroying how MOST people make money online, and the VAST majority of Internet marketers are not prepared!
May 25, 2009 at 1:01 AMThis is REALLY bad, because it's affecting everybody, from the newbie to the guru. But, the newbies don't realize how dire the situation actually is, and the guru's have lulled themselves into a false sense of security.
The reality... If you don't transform your Internet marketing methods away from email, you will not survive the impending death, and your profit—your entire online business—will implode...
For marketing purposes, it's already dead. I don't subscribe to email newsletters anymore. Finding them is too frustrating and RSS has replaced email in that area specifically.
May 25, 2009 at 1:03 AMPost a Comment