Around the Net
Gauging The Health Of Email
- Wall Street Journal et al., Monday, October 12, 2009 12:20 PM
Indeed, "Email was better suited to the way we used to use the Internet -- logging off and on, checking our messages in bursts," it writes. Now, however, "A new generation of services is starting to take hold -- services like Twitter and Facebook and countless others vying for a piece of the new world."
The paper concedes that while email usage is in fact continuing to grow, other types of communication services are growing far faster. In August 2009, 276.9 million people used email across the U.S., several European countries, Australia and Brazil, according to Nielsen -- up 21% from 229.2 million in August 2008. But the number of users on social-networking and other community sites jumped 31% to 301.5 million people.
Alas, other papers are crying hyperbole. In a post titled, "Reports of email's death are greatly exaggerated," the Houston Chronicle's TechBlog insists, "Email's not being deprecated, not by a long shot."
In particular, "In the corporate world, email remains king," TechBlog writes. "For important, serious communication, email remains the main way business users work ... And because of social media's distraction factor -- which is very high -- Big Business isn't going to be friending you on Facebook anytime soon: 54 percent of companies ban social media use in the workplace, according to staffing firm Robert Half Technologies."
Claiming that the Journal has totally missed the point, Fast Company put together a long list of reasons why email is here to stay. Along with the whole legacy issue, you can't embed a file directly in a Tweet; Facebook can't be trusted with keeping a corporate Excel file confidential; and "millions of BlackBerry and iPhone users will testify to mobile email's convenience."
Also of note, TechCrunch says the Journal totally missed another key point: Google Wave, which is designed to bridge the gap between traditional email and real-time messaging and communication, is Googles hedge on the continued evolution of email.
