• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 12, 2010

Social media is exciting a lot of interest as a marketing and advertising channel, and rightly so, in view of its unique qualities of engagement. And of course the burgeoning new medium has enthusiastic advocates. But like every other new medium on the way up, social media's boosters sometimes fall into aggressive hyperbole which just ends up confusing the situation.

Traditionally, a favorite trope is the idea that some other medium is "dead" or "dying" as a result of the rise of the new medium. For example, last month an article in the Wall Street Journal proclaimed the "End of the Email Era," outlining trends which suggest email may be giving way to social media as the favored means of communicating online, especially -- of course -- Facebook and Twitter.

The article sparked a spate of follow-up studies and replies. One survey from Prompt Communications, a digital PR consultancy, found that Facebook now ranks above email as a communication tool, used by 96% of respondents versus 93% for text messaging and 91% for email (but less than 99% for phones).

These trends make sense, considering the different capabilities of the different digital channels, which allow users to adopt more nuanced and efficient strategies for communicating with friends and colleagues. This is all part of a long-term expansion and diversification of channels: email was the first and broadest tool, but these new channels are, for various reasons, more suitable for different tasks -- e.g., using text messages to check if a couriered package has arrived, social networks to plan an informal gathering, and so on.

But there is a considerable gap between a long-term, gradual settling of usage rates for email and the "end of the email era," let alone the "death of email." For starters, a 91% penetration rate for email doesn't exactly bespeak a moribund medium. Second, the focus on numbers fails to address qualitative differences between the channels: given email's capabilities, it is probably used for more in-depth communications, which are by definition of greater importance to the user. Although I'm speculating, I also imagine email may be used more often in business communication than more informal alternatives like text or social networks.

Likewise, marketing communications received via email -- if executed correctly (and that's a big if) -- might be perceived as more credible or relevant than messages received in the context of social networks. And if email continues to enjoy dominance in high-importance communications, it will retain a certain value as a marketing channel, even if the frequency of use continues to fall.

None of this takes away from the value of social networks and social media generally as advertising platforms; it just suggests that the future will see more use of multiple channels alongside one another, with email reinforcing social networks and other digital media, and vice versa.