Is email dead?
Over the last few years there has been a notable shift in how people communicate using online technology. Sites such as this one, as well as others like Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and so on have introduced what is being referred to as the Social Networking Paradigm. Under this model, people are relying less and less on traditional modes of communication, including email.
In a corporate world, email is still an integral component, but it is a service bound to and acting for the organization, not the individual. So in a world where reaching as broad an audience as possible is critical, it stands to reason email will be used less and less to reach out to the masses.
That having been said, is email dead (if not dying) for the people / organizations reading this? What are people doing to leverage social networking environments as part of marketing efforts? How actively is the “third screen” playing into these efforts?
I am curious to hear what people think…
Chris
In a corporate world, email is still an integral component, but it is a service bound to and acting for the organization, not the individual. So in a world where reaching as broad an audience as possible is critical, it stands to reason email will be used less and less to reach out to the masses.
That having been said, is email dead (if not dying) for the people / organizations reading this? What are people doing to leverage social networking environments as part of marketing efforts? How actively is the “third screen” playing into these efforts?
I am curious to hear what people think…
Chris
Tags: email, marketing, networking, social, trends
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Anita Larsen on -
Email is far from dead yet in my opinion. Social networking has grown immensely but that doesn't mean that it has necessarily replaced email. Even Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn use emails as communication tools with their members.
Email is evolving and will continue to evolve. It is obviously more important than ever that the emails you design are compatible with mobile devices and as customers are getting savvier and realize all the options they have available to them, relevancy is a huge factor in email marketing.
I don't think it's right to say that email is not for the individual, email can definitely be for the individual if there is a sound relevant strategy behind it and if it's used responsibly to the benefit of the customer. When people subscribe to receive emails from companies they are interested in, the companies should do their best to live up to the customers' expectations of the emails they receive. The emails needs to be targeted to the customers' preferences.
It seems to be more important than ever that there is a sound multi channel marketing strategy with both email and social networking as important components of that. Marketers should listen to their customers and speak to them through the channel the customers prefer.
Just my two cents ... as far as I'm concerned we're not yet replacing email, we're just opening more channels of communication.
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Permalink Reply by Chris Mattie on -
Thanks for your reply – great comments!
But the main reason I ask if email is dead comes from the fact that as you said, there are so many sites, services, and whatnot that use messaging features. I say messaging because sites like Facebook or MySpace allow you to communicate with users within their own user-space but not externally. Even the use of emails to mobile devices rely on the newer technology for handhelds, not so much on email itself.
Now when we consider the incoming generation of professionals currently in University., most of these people do not use email regularly because they have email addresses for the school, external sites such as Gmail, addresses for their ISP, and so on.
You are absolutely correct, I don’t think we will replace email, but I certainly expect to see its proliferation within the industry decrease as time moves forward.
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Permalink Reply by kellyreaves on -
In addition to Anita's comments below, I agree that email is far from dead. The ways of email are changing however and marketers must become smarter in their sending strategies. Marketers must begin to leverage their customers preferences more if they want to keep them as customers and provide them the information they want, on the platform they desire. There are two great posts from Media Post's Email Insider that are worth checking out if you haven't already:
Post around leveraging customers preferences more -
http://blogs.mediapost.com/email_insider/?p=645
Post around social media and email -
http://blogs.mediapost.com/email_insider/?p=646
You may need an account with MediaPost to view these. Im happy to forward them to you as well as I subscribe to their daily newsletter on this topic.
-Kelly Reaves
Media Manager, MindComet
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Permalink Reply by Eric Marden on -
Check out Inbox Zero on 43 Folders to manage your email deluge. I never have more than 8 things in my inbox, and I get hunderds of emails a day.
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Permalink Reply by Eric Marden on
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I still like email for lots of things, and am still on some mailing lists. Each protocol (email, phone, fax, twitter, IM, comments, threads, etc) brings a different kind of interaction, that each work for a different purpose. And to that end, each protocol can be used to be heard, or abused and ignored.
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Permalink Reply by Jon Gambrell on -
I've found most people in my age group (college age) strictly use Facebook, MySpace, and other similar social sites to communicate with each other instead of email. Not only that, but most of these people are making these once private communications public, whether it be on the Facebook Wall, MySpace comments, or Twitter @s.
I'm still not sure how I personally feel about the way things are progressing, but my gut reaction is against it. People are putting way too much personal information online that's accessible by the general public, and a lot of them don't seem to know where to draw the line.
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