Is email dying?

I’ve always dismissed talk of email’s demise as the foolish chatter of digital hipsters who are quick to declare anything dead as shortly as they discover a more fashionable alternative. However last week’s Australian internet usage report contained a very interesting paragraph that seemed to go overlooked in the media coverage;

“While December 2010, 2.3 million Australians aged 14 years and over went online to make a VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) call via their computer, 2.3 million used instant messaging and 5.4 million undertook activities relating to blogging and online communities. The number of persons who used such media as a substitute to traditional email usage nearly doubled in the twelve months to December 2010.”

This tells us millions of Australians are using VoIP and instant messaging, which doesn’t come as a surprise. Nevertheless it as well tells us that the number of people using them as a substitute for “traditional email” doubled last year, which is undoubtedly something to think about.

The phrase “traditional email” in itself might be disturbing for those of us who aren’t Digital Natives. I’m a thirty-something knowledge worker who grew up without the internet and email, however I try to keep up with technological trends and I think I’d be classed as an Eager Adopter.

As someone who works from home, email is my primary form of communication with the outside world for work and play - and that’s the way I like it. It’s fast, asynchronous, open, private, mobile, searchable and archiveable - letting me deal with the world on my terms and strike some form of work/life balance. So you could say email is my “traditional” form of communication, nevertheless that’s probably not the case for many people my age or older.

Talk of spam killing off email seems to have waned of late as spam filtering as improved. Google Wave was as well supposed to kill email, however it was ahead of its time. I in fact think that its downfall was in some cases due to its lack of integration with existing forms of communication. People want unified communications, not a multitude of various inboxes to monitor. I try to use my email inbox as a central communications dashboard, you might consider it a mega-client. Technologies just as RSS, voicemail to email and even fax to email help, yet I’m after all frustrated by the lack of extra communications options in many email customers. The Gmail interface is a step in the right direction, as are desktop clients just as Postbox and Outlook plugins like Xobni.

To me, email alternatives just as SMS, instant messaging and social messaging are too limited and ephemeral to be used as serious forms of communication, however I guess plenty of people for all that think that about email. Yet does my attachment to email make me an old fogey of the internet age?

What of these 1

What of these 1.4 million Australians who used other internet-based communications methods as substitute to traditional email? Are they completely turning their back on email? Probably not. They only needed to opt for something other than email once in that entire month to be counted in that figure. But there’s obviously a trend here. I think it’s that email’s supremecy is waning as people use the best tool for the job. Email isn’t going to die, just like the handwritten letter won’t completely fade away. They’re just taking their place as one of many communications options at our disposal.

I agree it is premature to call the downfall of email. So many businesses use it, both in the public and private sector. For professional stuff I always use email, because as if you would try and IM a manager of a mining company! I think for personal stuff, email is all the same second to social networking, phonecalls, IM and SMS.

The number of people one

You can only use so many forms of communication given the number of people one would typically need to use innovation to contact. I readily use email however can't be bothered with over sized overpriced smartphones for texting. So, much to the chagrin of some people, I don't text unless it is a yes or no response sought. Even at that time I'm told my texting etiquette rude. So email me!

Meh. Outside of work, yes, email is on the wane. I hardly touch email when not at work. Inside any business, no chance for all the reasons you state: it is fast, asynchronous, open, private, mobile, searchable and archiveable.

I hope email sticks around. I've only started using email in all seriousness since gettign an iPhone about 3 years ago, it's as well about the time I started to need email for 'serious' uses like dealing with my real estate agent and other things of the same type. I use Twitter, Facebook and other forms of communication, however I can't see Facebook messages or Twitter taking the place of email for 'serious business' kind of things ever.

I can understand email dying as a form of personal communication however it is the perfect tool for nearly any kind of business you can think of, so it's place in the overall scheme of things is fairly solid, I reckon. People have always, and will always, use a mix of communication methods and whilst personal dependence on email may wane, it will always remain a useful tool in certain situations.

Texting and social networks may be the choice of teens, however email is the choice of business. Email is very efficient for business, and has virtually replaced the clunky fax. A good by-product of social texting and networks has been larger screens on smartphones, which is good for business mobile data entry.