E-mail has been around since 1971 when Ray Tomlinson sent the first networked e-mail. It was Mr. Tomlinson who decided that the @ symbol would be used to connect the user's name and the machine at which the mailbox is located.
Since the 1970's, e-mail has made some improvements, but it’s also remained relatively the same. It is not a sexy tool. There aren't a ton of bells and whistles. The overall design and functionality of electronic mail hasn't changed. We pick people to send mail to. We write our message. We send our message and we wait for a reply.
1996 saw the launch of Hotmail, the first web-based e-mail service. The web-based structure of Hotmail makes it much more assessable to the average person. Now you no longer needed to be connected to a company network or load your mail program (AOL) onto your local machine. E-mail could be accessed from any computer with an internet connection. Not surprising that Microsoft buys Hotmail for $400 million just one year later.
Two of the major IT initiatives that businesses are concentrating on today are Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems and Social Media efforts. Both offer alternatives on how we communicate electronically to both internal and external co-workers and contacts. This threatens the existence of e-mail. Companies like Burberry, Virgin America, and CareerBuilder are implementing CRM tools like SalesForce Chatter Platform to replace e-mail. Chatter is the leading enterprise social network that allows teams to connect in a social networking environment to communicate.
Back in 2011, Mark Zuckerberg stated that “We don’t think a modern messaging system is going to be e-mail.” This came out at the same time that New York Times, ran an article suggesting that for college age students, e-mail is quickly going out of style. E-mail is being replaced by texting, instant messenger, Twitter, Facebook, CRMs, and Learning Management Systems. There is a common belief that in the future, most electronic communication will come in brief, informal bursts. In a survey to incoming freshmen at TCNJ, we asked about student’s use of e-mail and other electronic communications. The overall theme of the answers were "I text with my friends. I use e-mail to communicate with old people."
So what is next for e-mail? If e-mail has a future, what will it be? Like the travel agent who has to evolve to stay in business, what changes would e-mail have to make to stay alive? If there is no future, then what is the future for electronic communication going to be?
I can definitely see the trend leading away from email and towards informative messages with short, informal bursts. Many teenagers haven’t developed the ability to communicate professionally in the written language, I would guess largely because the most popular means of sending information (e.g., texting, Facebook, tweeting) require informal language and format.
ReplyDeletePerhaps among workers of the same rank, instant messaging could overtake email. This would involve constant availability and to-the-point messages, which fit with the various trends in communication we are seeing today. However, despite the trend towards informal communication, I can’t see the need for professionalism and formality in the work place every dying. These traits will always be important. Thus, although it may be slow, the one thing that email has going for it is its formality. I cannot imagine or foresee a world in which employees or job applicants communicate informally over electronic means with their bosses, or vice versa. Although email does seem to be dying out, the need for a formal type of electronic communication will not. Thus, I predict that email will either remain alive, used formally in professional settings, or become connected with more frequently used formal communication sites, like LinkedIn. I think one reason why email seems to be dying out is because it is separate from other popular forms of communication; it takes effort to remember to check your email. Thus, if it was connected to other forms of social media, perhaps it would remain functional.
Elsa, I agree with you that email has a formality that isn't really seen in communication such as texting and tweeting. Email is a way to communicate in a professional manner, but simultaneously it can also be used in a casual and informal setting. The formality is unique to email and it has a future to be used continuously in professional tools such as LinkedIn and even for transactions with business on various websites such as Craigslist and Ebay.
ReplyDeleteI don't believe that email has to necessarily connect to social media in order to stay functional by users. I feel that email servers should implement more interactive tools in order to make emails look more professional or ways in which email servers can become even more beneficial for businesses such as interview video call options, employee call options, email blasts to specific customers, graphics, presentation support, and etc.
I also don't agree that it takes much effort to check your email. Most websites simply have a username and password just like Facebook does and emails are easily accessible and visible to the user when they come in. Notification alerts can even be set up like social media. I do feel, however, that the format of viewing email conversations could be changed so that the users can scroll through a conversation as easy as they could on a social media platform such as Facebook.
Because emails have a unique sense of formality and are frequently used in professional settings, email servers should focus on this uniqueness and make more options for their professional users. By allowing businesses more options through communication, this can help to support the backbone of a business, help to create more understanding, and bring every employee on the same page. Email servers can create more user friendly options to view conversations and create ways to have conference calls via their email account.
ReplyDeleteMaking email more office friendly and allowing more options for workers, customers, and managers to communicate in various professional ways will, in my opinion, keep email alive for the long run. There could even be options to create instant reports, PowerPoints, research studies, excel charts, diagrams and much more for workers to collaborate on through email communication.
Email servers can create a format of business friendly tools and also incorporate informal tools to compete with social media such as "sticker" icons, similar to what Facebook has and instant message to send more casual notes to others. By focusing on the business aspects and formality, email will maintain its reputation and by incorporating more casual and fun tools to communicate will give email space to compete with social media as well.
Michelle and Cody, you make good points about potential changes to the current email system. Since email is increasingly used solely in business settings, perhaps orienting the system towards this market would make email more relevant. Voice over IP and video conferencing connected to email are great ideas. It seems like Google has been anticipating this trend; their google docs system and phone call capabilities are on point with our ideas. Michelle, on second thought, you’re right about checking email not being a hassle. In hindsight, I think I meant that using email for informal communication is hassle; I guess this is part of the reason why communicating through social media and apps like GroupMe has become more popular.
DeleteI think communication using GroupMe and other social media in comparison with email are two different worlds. I personally hate using GroupMe for anything other than joking around with my friends, because I don't expect to use the platform for any kind of work discussion. Therefore, when people arrange meetings etc. over GroupMe, I feel like I'm left catching up on things because there is no search tool and the notification system is a hassle.
DeleteEmail, on the other hand, is just as good as you allow it to be. If the user is bad with checking and responding, that's the user creating an uncomfortable and frustrating atmosphere to communicate in, and not the platform.
So it really depends on your objective for communicating with others. I agree that email should be oriented for the business setting.
Elsa, I think you are correct about the need for email service providers to gear their services towards the needs of businesses. The professional world is really the primary market for email so it only makes sense that designs of these systems reflect that. I agree with you that an excellent example of this is google. Particularly, the addition of google docs was clearly intended to accommodate large groups of people. This makes it easy to coordinate office events or share and collaborate on reports. These features definitely make the gmail system more appealing and keeps email relevant because of its anticipation of user needs. For email to survive, in general, I think they must do more to cater to the specific purposes for which people use the service.
Delete-Stephanie Lescrinier
Cody Melton
ReplyDeleteAs a member of a professional management team at a multi-million dollar corporation for the past 4 years of my life, I see no immediate alternative to email. Just like stated in the initial blog, young people use email to communicate with "old people" and for the next 30 years or so, the people in charge are most likely going to be "old people." Just like the others who have said it before me, there is a specific formal aspect of email that can not be matched by social media or text. I do not mean to say use of email will not go down, as I have began texting my employees about matters of less importance, but email will be around for the long haul when it comes to formality.
However, I do see email servers having to evolve and become more interactive as the world around electronics evolves as well. I believe email should incorporate programs such as word, excel, etc into it so that documents do not have to get opened in other program and slow down the process of seeing the information you want to see. Obviously, technology is always moving towards a faster world were we need stuff right away. Texting is a good way to get that immediate interaction between one another and be able to receive immediate answers to problems, but in reality, email is not much slower and connects to all of your devices just like text or social media does.
E-mail is generally a more formal and official form of communication as opposed to other communication methods. E-mail allows for a more formal setting to convey information and is a valid method of transporting formal documents. This is not to say that e-mail cannot be used in a more casual way and it is, it is just e-mail is more suited to be professional. Many websites now offer signing in with an e-mail or a Facebook account, but sometimes it is not appropriate to link everything to a personal Facebook account, for instance a company e-mail would be more fitting for most business transactions.
ReplyDeleteAlso the survey regarding TCNJ students is somewhat irrelevant and no statistical background is given as to how accurate or generalizable that data is. Plus, it is no stretch to say TCNJ freshmen do not give an accurate account of national opinions for college freshmen, let alone the nation as a whole. This is without mentioning how this statement is more than likely altered within the first months at TCNJ; all professors and all forms of communication and most forms of communication are through e-mail on the campus. Facebook and other forms of social media are good suppliments, especially in assisting in publicizing, but they are a far cry from official. It would be hard to trust the school if they just massed Facebook messaged the campus. Another point to be brought up is the current use of Facebook, Twitter, and the like; people use it primarily with friends or family and to share photos and information with those categories of people. People are not looking to be constantly sharing information of their lives with their bosses and other coworkers just because the company decided against e-mail.
Another plus to keeping e-mail is that most e-mail service providers put extra effort into their e-mail systems to make them more efficient and update them more regularly, while other mediums that focus on multiple communication methods let some details slide creating a less efficient interface or functionality for users.
~Dan Kennedy
I believe that email will be relevant and alive, although with a diminished size of users than initially, for at least another decade. One has to keep in mind that just like snail mail email is not always going to be the primary source of contact and will eventually die out. This is the life cycle of technology and something more innovative will come along.
ReplyDeleteEmail has great features to offer such as the official presence and formality it provides versus other social media platforms. For example many people would feel uneasy if the college Facebook messaged all its students to inform them, as Dan pointed out. Email, as of now, provides businesses with a platform of legitimacy. On that note, I believe that email is the best way the better way businesses can connect with customers. Customer-business relationships should be at some degree formal, and email provides this. In businesses that deal with contracts email is superior because of its ability to send documents. Other social platforms such as GroupMe is unable to provide a service that allows sending documents. This is essential in the business world. I agree with the others above when I say that email should integrate Word applications into it as to become more efficient and relevant.
With all of emails pros the con is that it is a delayed form of communication. In the fast paced business world that we live in today, we need communication to be instant. If email can become more integrated and find a niche in the market and capitalize on it, it might have a second life.
-Kayla Glynn
As of right now, I don't see much of a trend leading away from email in the business environment. Email is a very unique and professional tool that businesses can use to send memos and communicate in a formal way. Other forms of communication listed above are very informal and should not be permitted at work. With that being said, I also realize that email is not as popular within the younger generation. Those individuals may shy away from it, or resort back to texting and instant messaging, but those forms of communication will not be respected once they enter the working world. There is a certain amount of politeness and formality that is expected when talking to colleagues and coworkers that can't easily be conveyed via text. Email is also useful for sending large documents which is a feature not generally offered by other instant messaging services. I believe the future of email resides mostly in the business world, because as the TCNJ survey has already shown, incoming freshmen hardly use it at all in their personal lives.
ReplyDeleteHowever, with so many other types of communication mediums available to the public, email will need to evolve to keep up with the times. One thing it could try to do is sync up with the user's various social networking sites to share contact information. Since many of those sites, like Facebook, use the person's email to identify them, email servers may have easy access to this information. That way, when someone creates an email account, they can hotwire all of their Facebook friends' emails to their contact list.
Rachel Schade
Rachel,
DeleteI definitely share your view that instant messaging or texting is not respected as a form of communication in the working world. Although these forms of messaging are accepted between friends and on a casual basis, there is no trend of them replacing email in the business environment. Even though younger generations are much more familiar with the use of social media as the primary platform of communication, it is crucial that they learn how to send professional emails. Email is undoubtedly the go-to form of communication in the professional setting and this does not seem to be changing. The politeness and recognized structure of email simply cannot be conveyed through text or a Facebook message.
The future of email certainly resides in the business world as you stated. With constantly emerging forms of communication, and huge focuses on CRM systems and social media efforts threatening the existence of email, I agree that email must evolve to stay relevant in today’s society. Web-based email hosts such as Gmail or Yahoo mail can try making their service more aesthetically pleasing by allowing users to personally customize their emails. I also love your idea of syncing up emails with social networking sites such as Facebook to share contact information. This would certainly save time since I would not have to individually search for each person’s email if they were automatically linked. Email must become more user-friendly or appealing to its users if it wants to stay significant.
For me, email is useful primarily because it holds a lot of data that is accessible from any computer. My files especially are transferable anywhere I can log onto Gmail. Also, it's much easier to search my emails for important conversations and information than any other communications platform: texts, Facebook messages being some examples.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the others that email provides a much more formal atmosphere in which to communicate, which is helpful when you seek a not necessarily immediate but important response. You are able to eaily keep track of which conversations reached their outcome for you and which you must follow up with by leaving them marked unread.
I think many people experience a downfall with email because they don't utilize the tools it provides. For those who have 1,000s of unread emails simply aren't deleting/unsubscribing unimportant ones, and filing the relevant ones away. I never let my inbox hold over 20-30 messages at a time, and this allows me to use my inbox as a to-do list that can be referred to anywhere at any time.
Tracy,
DeleteYour point on accessing e-mails anywhere is vital to the need of e-mail. I didn't even think about that! If people were to access their texts from computers, the story would be a bit different. Yet again, when do people not have their cell phones on them? I feel like most of the emails made today are from someone's phone and they are being opened on another phone, so the use of accessing it from any computer isn't quite necessary.
I also agree with people not utilizing email properly. I see the stack of 1000s of emails all the time, and it drives me crazy! However, when someone gets to that point, they don't even want to use their email anymore. Shouldn't all of these useless emails be put into the spam folder? Isn't that the whole use of it? With our generation, we seem to be very neat, but with the older generation that let the emails pile up, if email is so useful and updated, why should they have to worry about deleting 10-20 spam emails a day? This is the whole point of why email is being pushed out. It isn't updated enough.
Stephanie Scott
The problem is that people don't unsubscribe from email lists and that's why their emails pile up like crazy. Email now also has filters that you can create which send messages with keywords straight to any designated folder, spam included.
DeleteStephanie and Tracy bring up excellent points regarding spam. Many people find that texting and social media is preferable because they don't have to deal with junk mail or spam. Companies don't spam your text message log so why not use texting and social media instead. On social media, companies are passively advertising, for the most part, and the consumer doesn't have to remeber to delete the ads, a bonus. If email you integrate this model instead of hundreds of spam emails that deter consumers, email would be better off. Technology is supposed to make life easier, not harder.
Delete-Kayla Glynn
I agree with the annoyance and complication that spam brings to email, however, most of this spam is from companies that the user has signed up for or ordered products/services from. Due to legislation addressing the issue of mass marketing it is now made easy to unsubscribe from unwanted mail. Additionally, I find that this is only a problem in personal emails. Work related emails are much less likely to be spammed according to my experience. Perhaps because I am not using my work email to order personal items or sign up on websites.
DeleteI also agree that email is more useful than texting when necessary to access old conversations. Have you ever tried to access a text from a friend from a few weeks ago? Scrolling through all those old texts is difficult and time consuming. Email allows you to sort through the messages much more quickly and it can be accessed from anywhere which is even more useful.
-Kristen Toro
The level of organization that can be gained through e-mails is an excellent point! I myself will archive and have folders to store e-mails that either are relevant or will once again become relevant. The ease to which the e-mails can be searched is a wonderful tool that I personally use all the time. Then Kristen's point of having to go back through text messages truly exemplifies how much easier e-mail makes sorting and searching.
DeleteOn Stephanie's point I would say I write most of my e-mails on the computer since it is substantially more user friendly especially since I send many documents that way and my phone is neither a convenient storage space nor editor for documents. Another problem with phones is it is hard to store large amounts of data on your phone while computers store substantially more data and process at much greater speeds, this gives e-mail that edge.
~Dan Kennedy
On point, Tracy. Email has a lot of functions that other services don't do as well. Even people who say that email is for old people still likely check their email at least multiple times a week.
DeleteI don't believe that the use of e-mail will die off. E-mail is the more formal use of texting, and it is used among schools, like ours, and businesses to communicate with each other. However, I can agree that the overall appeal of e-mail is low, and something does need to change to bring more people, especially the younger generations, back to it.
ReplyDeleteWhat deter's me from using an e-mail address is the amount of junk mail I get. Whether you're shopping online, shopping in a physical store, reading an article, etc. At some point, you will be asked for an email address. In some cases, like contests, sweepstakes, or online ordering, you cannot complete your action without entering an email address. I'm sure many people can say that thy have one separate e-mail address for junk mail. It is ridiculous and annoying. Most of the time, the spam folder will not pick up on these emails.
With all of that being said, e-mail needs to up its game. The next step for email is to clean up their overall design, or add a customizable feature to make it more aesthetically appealing. Then, it needs to create a solution for the junk e-mails. In my opinion, it should add a feature that keeps track of what is deleted, and if an e-mail from a company is deleted 10 times in a row, it should automatically ask the user if they want to unsubscribe or move the e-mails to the spam folder. E-mail also needs to start adjusting to the younger generations. We text people instead of emailing because it is much simpler and has an easier view to it. E-mail can still be formal while also having a more modern look to it.
If there is no future for e-mail, it won't be too much of a loss. What's next would be utilizing text messages as e-mails or even building a separate messaging system. Most people use texting for personal means, not for school or work. So, if e-mail is lost, another system would rise that meets the needs e-mail couldn't.
Stephanie Scott
Good point about the junk mail, like honestly how do I get rid of it? I have 4,960 unread emails... I guess at this point I might as well hold out to 5,000.
DeleteIn terms of email "stepping up its game" in terms of aesthetics, you might have to reference specific web based email services that you find unappealing. I think Gmail looks nice, especially with the little TCNJ logo in the left hand corner when you're on school email.
I agree that the use of email will not die off. As you stated, it seems apparent that the use of email among the younger generations is minimal, but it has its place in the business world for formal communication. Indeed, for individuals under the age of twenty, email does not have much appeal for social interactions and it will soon never be used for personal communication.
DeleteI also agree that email servers should do a better job of organizing and eliminating junk mail. For users who have had their particular email addresses for many years, and have given out there email address to many different people or companies, as you mentioned, junk mail is a very real issue. It gets in the way of more important messages and can sometimes give your computer viruses. This is a risk that many people are not willing to take, and often avoid creating a new email address. Some see texting and instant messaging as safer and simpler, and thus, stick to what they know.
Lastly, I understand email's purpose in schools and businesses, and I know that it has worked for them for many years, but I do agree that if email were to completely die off, it would be replaced with another form of formal communication. Humans have the ability to adapt quickly when it is necessary and telecommunication companies will be ready to please their customers with new and exciting servers.
Rachel Schade
As students, most of us can agree that we don’t send emails on a regular basis. We mostly use email to communicate with professors or when professionalism is required. The blog could not have stated it better—we use email to communicate with old people. The essential format of typing a message, sending it to a contact, and waiting for a reply has not changed much since the inception of electronic mail. Without a doubt, email represents a formal system of communication. For this exact reason, I do not see an immediate replacement. The unique formal aspects of email cannot be mimicked by instant messaging tools such as texts or social media.
ReplyDeleteWhat is next for email then? I definitely don’t see it remaining alive forever, as newer technologies are constantly emerging and somewhere along the line, a groundbreaking new form of communication will be invented. But for now, I don’t see much change. It’s hard to imagine employees texting their bosses important documents and using informal slang in communicating with the higher-ups. Perhaps coworkers or concentrated work teams can implement texting to their advantage since it provides communication in quick, easy, informal bursts. But in all honesty, it is not that difficult to check your email. The overall need for professionalism in the work setting will always remain. This being said, however, email still has to advance and make some changes if it wants to stay alive. Maybe through the use of evolving speech recognition tools, we can send emails through voice input instead of typing them out. Another suggestion for email is to increase its personalized design. If emails incorporate more user personality (such as Facebook), people may be more apt to use this longstanding service. By making email more user-friendly or by somehow making it more interactive or fun, email will stay relevant in today’s professional work setting.
Kaiser,
DeleteI completely agree that e-mail has to advance as technology advances to stay relevant. I didn’t think of improving e-mail with speech recognition tools to send messages through voice input, but I agree that is a great example.
On the other hand, I do not agree with the statement that we only use e-mail to communicate with old people. I do not think that e-mail correlates to a certain age group, but rather to formal situations. As you mentioned, there are formal aspects of email that are not found in text messaging or social media, so I agree that e-mail is not going anywhere anytime soon.
-Kruthika Ramesh
E-mail has been around for 40 years. It is a simple tool without “a ton of bells and whistles,” but I believe that is where the appeal is. Email is functional, efficient, and easy to use. It is understood by a vast majority of individuals from those who are ready to retire to those who are still in high school. Although there are other means of communicating now such as texting, and using IT systems such as CRM I do not see these forms of communication replacing email anytime soon.
ReplyDeleteMany of the alternatives to email have a very different connotation than the old fashioned email. Emails are formal and used to communicate in a business setting. Texting and instant messaging are far more informal and used to send short burst of information. For small messages these systems are perhaps more useful than email, however, when sending letters or detailed reports to a boss the email will always prevail.
In the future, technological advancements may eventually replace the email, however, I do not see this happening anytime soon. Email is being used less frequently among friends because the formality is not deemed important in this type of setting. Email may be able to resurge if it becomes more interactive and personalized. It would also be beneficial to create a way to more easily view attached documents without having to download them on your phone. If there was a quick view option it would save time which would be more valuable. This may increase the frequency with which people use email rather than some of the other forms of communication.
Kruthika Ramesh
ReplyDeleteAlthough today there are many alternatives to sending an e-mail such as texting or instant messaging, I believe there is still a future for electronic communication through e-mail. Although texting for example, is a quick alternative to sending an e-mail, I believe that an e-mail is still seen as a more professional, formal way of communication. Companies may be able to communicate in a social networking or instant messaging environment but I do not see that leading to the obsolescence of email entirely.
In college, there is no denying that students such as myself constantly use texting and social media to send quick messages to our friends or organizations but all formal communication I have with professors, extra-curricular club members, and acquaintances is still done through email. With email being easily accessible on mobile devices now, it has become significantly easier to check and send emails continuously throughout the day while simultaneously keeping the interaction professional. Although I feel like email will not die out anytime soon, I still think that it should continue to find ways to improve speed and ease of use to keep up with our fast paced society.
Kruthika,
DeleteI think you make a good point about the mobile platform for email having a major impact on usability. Being able to send emails from anywhere at anytime from a mobile device is exceedingly useful. The mobile apps for email make it just as easy to maintain near instantaneous communication while still keeping messages formal.
One point where I slightly differ from your view is the speed of email. The only email server that seems to delay emails is the TCNJ server. In general, for my personal email addresses there seems to be no delay from when sent is clicked and the email is received. Even with the TCNJ servers sometimes slowing down emails the delay is still often minimal, and this issue is not a reflection on email as an application, but on the hardware of the school. Outside of TCNJ, any slight delay in email correspondence is no greater than that of the delay from sending or receiving a text or instant message.
Kruthika,
DeleteI also think you make a very good point when you talk about how accessible email is on a mobile platform. Being able to access at anytime is what keeps that form of communication I believe in this ever changing world. You can not be a member of most professional fields unless you are able to multi task on the go at absolutely every moment of the day, that is what is expected of you. Email in general has done a very good job at keeping up with the times and I think it will continue to do so, mostly because it has to in order to stay usable. It most definitely needs to continue to improve and I think email needs to improve in the direction that gmail is going, providing all the services under one account.
Cody Melton
Stephanie Lescrinier
ReplyDeleteWhile email may not be the most glamorous form of communication technology it does still have a place in our modern world, at least for the foreseeable future. Email is still a part of the conversation because it fulfills a specific purpose that has not quite been replicated by other forms of electronic communication. This of course is the tone of email. As has been mentioned, email allows for more formal and professional communication. Email incorporates the traditional format of letters into electronic communication which allows the author to express a level of formality, this is something that is virtually only acceptable via email. For instance, if anyone sends a text or message in this format it is often perceived as overkill for that mode of communication. Therefore, while email may not be the most utilized service it should be able to survive because it satisfies a demand that is otherwise not quite being satisfied, particularly in the business world.
Other means of electronic communication unsurprisingly have higher user volume. Texting, instant messaging, and communicating via social media have a wider scope of appeal for users. Many of the users of these services start as young teens or preteens. Therefore, they would not have a need for the professional level of communication that email provides because they have not established professional relationships at that point in their lives. Meanwhile, older users have both personal and professional relationships so they would be more inclined to use each type of service.
Stephanie,
DeleteI agree with your points on how email does have a future and how it has a specific professional tone. It is a classic service that has a different purpose than social networks, which are more for conversational and informal talking. Services like Linked-In are very useful for job networking, but it is still connected to email which allows people to send professional information through email. The other contact information on a person’s profile can also be used for less formal messaging. Your last point that says older people can simultaneously use e-mail and social media is valid too since they are immersed in a professional setting, but also can use the social media for convenient online meetings and communication outside of work. Teens are commonly considered to crave being up-to-date with social information, so that is why they use social networks all the time, but I also believe that a good amount of teens enjoy using email even before entering a career. I liked sending and receiving emails when I was younger and do not want e-mail services to disappear.
I think that email is here to stay, at least for a while longer. The original version of emailing may be archaic, but email has developed significantly since it's early days. I view Gmail as the perfect example of how email has evolved to build a future for itself. Gmail is an integrated platform for email communication that combines the basic form of communication with the ability to collaborate on documents, make a calendar, video-chat, instant messenger, and maintain a social networking profile to name just some of the services provided to users of Gmail. Previous posts have mentioned the need for email to become more interactive and provide greater services, and I think the industry leading platform of Gmail does just that.
ReplyDeleteThere will always be a need for professional communication, where an element of formality is needed. A new technology may develop to replace email, but I do not foresee a transition away from email in the near future. Email may be for communicating with "older" people, but since I have myself become a little older, I am finding email more and more useful. Email is essentially instantaneous and it is very easy to organize and sort responses. Instant messaging and texting do not allow for the same sorting ability, and small snippets of text are not conducive to dealing with complicated issues and long updates that are part of both business and social interactions.
I think there are parallels between email and meeting in person. As technology for telecommuting was developed, many people thought that face-to-face interactions would become obsolete. However, companies still keep brick and mortar buildings and require employees to be in the office because it can be shown that ideas are better transferred and developed when there is human interaction. Likewise, I think it will be discovered that when it comes to important correspondence new technology is not a replacement for the tried and true ability to formally connect with others through email.
Gmail is great! Too bad they try and make you link everything up with Google Plus, no one wants to use that.
DeleteGoogle also owns Youtube and all their stuff is connected pretty well, so I can't see Gmail falling out of style for a while. Google is a pretty ahead of its time so I can see it preserving email or email based services through creative means
This article does present a valid point of social media becoming a more dominant way of communicating with other people, especially for teens. However, social media networks have a different purpose than e-mails because they are more fast-paced. If social media is being used during work with systems like SalesForce Chatter Platform, then it is useful for meetings where conversations require quick and more relaxed tone. Documents that require more consideration and evaluation should be combined with the social networks to provide a balance. Social media networks can also be used by students for discussing group projects because it groups them together in a live-stream chat. Social networks and texting are less formal because the tone is more conversational. I use social media for talking with friends, but also to plan events for school and social gatherings. When it comes to sending documents or emailing a professor, it seems more appropriate to use e-mail. Although e-mail is simple and has not changed much over time, I see it as a classic way of sending out important announcements that should be considered more professional. I send out e-mails for club information too, which I prefer compared to using social media.
ReplyDeleteEmail will have a future for professional documents and for people who do not want to be become fully immersed in social media. I see social media as a huge convenience, but I am also skeptical when I find out information about how it tracks conversations. Also a lot of social media networks benefit the company that is providing the service, so unnecessary advertisements are included. E-mail does not need to change because it is only providing a simple service. It could still be replaced completely by social media, but it would take a few generations to disappear completely.
Stephanie,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your points on how email does have a future and how it has a specific professional tone. It is a classic service that has a different purpose than social networks, which are more for conversational and informal talking. Services like Linked-In are very useful for job networking, but it is still connected to email which allows people to send professional information through email. The other contact information on a person’s profile can also be used for less formal messaging. Your last point that says older people can simultaneously use e-mail and social media is valid too since they are immersed in a professional setting, but also can use the social media for convenient online meetings and communication outside of work. Teens are commonly considered to crave being up-to-date with social information, so that is why they use social networks all the time, but I also believe that a good amount of teens enjoy using email even before entering a career. I liked sending and receiving emails when I was younger and do not want e-mail services to disappear.
Most of the comments so far have been in favor of keeping email because its formal and professional connotation is necessary and is not captured by any other type of communication. Seeing as we are young people and supposedly the least likely demographic to use email, this support seems to indicate that email will survive for at least a little longer.
ReplyDeleteTCNJ students saying “I text with my friends... I use e-mail to communicate with old people” is not problematic. There is no reason for communicating with friends to be the same as communicating with everyone else.
I think email will continue to exist because there needs to be a formal platform for communication with employers and professional contacts. Even after one becomes comfortable with their colleagues and communicating with them via instant message or text, there will always be new people to meet and communicate with for which that medium is inappropriate.
Still, there are practical problems that I face with email. Although I check my email many times each day, it can be difficult to stay organized and to remember which emails still need to be replied to. A clustered inbox can be overwhelming. I think the integration of email and instant messaging platforms is a necessary step in improving professional communication. There needs to be a new email program with a platform for formal “mail” messages and a platform for quick chatting or informal messages. Having these options side-by-side would make switching between them easier (which is beneficial in the workplace) and would preserve the integrity of formal emails and keep your professional inbox less cluttered. This type of interface may already exist and be available, but if so, it is not mainstream enough to have had much of an impact.
Julianna, I really like your idea of integrating email and instant-messaging platforms to help organize mail into formal and informal categories. Sometimes I feel that checking my e-mail is overwhelming with the amount of various messages I receive. Although sorting through mail can take more time, perhaps a system can be created that recognizes the sender of an email. Then, based on the sender information, those emails can be sorted automatically for the reader. This would make e-mail a more attractive form of communication. With less clutter in the inbox, individuals would be less overwhelmed and more likely to check and respond to e-mails. As you mentioned, having the option to switch between formal and informal e-mail categories, will give users the best of both worlds.
Delete- Frankie DiGiovanni
Julianna, I thought your argument that having two different forms of communication is not only a non-issue, but that it is necessary. E-mail and texting/instant messaging have very different purposes altogether. Younger generations like to use texting/instant messaging for casual and friendly communication amongst their friends and peers. However, when communicating with adults, especially those in a position of authority, a more formal communication system is needed.
DeleteI also like your suggestion for a little bit of housekeeping and rearranging in regards to the organization for E-mails. Due to the new generations' familiarity with texting, E-mail can seem a bit unorganized and chaotic. If the Inbox incorporated a format similar to texting (by listing conversations by contact and time received) then perhaps younger people would be more inclined to utilize the E-mail system more often.
I haven't read all of the comments so I don't know if I'm the first one to say this, but isn't emails strongest function it's file sharing ability? I regularly use it for sending various files between friends, professors, and other people. And with services such as Google Drive (which is an extension of G-Mail) uploading and sharing files with groups of people is very easy. This is something that neither social media nor text messaging can do as easily.
ReplyDeleteNow when it comes to actually communication via email, I'm going to have to agree with the statement that it's for old people. Short texts allows for easier, more personal conversations when people are long distance. Of course, you don't want everyone knowing your number/being friends with you on Facebook.
To me, it seems at least Google as a company has been wary of email's decline as a communication medium and has evolved and expanded the idea that email originally was. As social media and direct text messaging services continue to become the popular medium for communication, email services will have to provide a further level of connectivity and file/project sharing functions to stay relevant in the future.
Shawn, you make a very good point about file sharing that I had not thought of. There are other ways to share files (and bigger files) like through Dropbox, but email’s simple file attachment system is easy and best for simple transactions. Sharing simple documents over chat or text message involves the extra step of uploading it somewhere and then sharing the link. I think email’s file sharing ability is an important function that will insure its survival until something easier is developed.
DeleteI definitely agree about file sharing. I use my email all the time just to send files to myself to make them easily accessible from anywhere, especially when I need to print things. I don't agree that email "is for old people" though because I think it has its place in the business world. Email allows me to stay organized and also is a great platform to get formal requests for information etc taken care of. I would hate to lose the ability to contact businesses and people via email because it is so easy to overlook a text or a Facebook message. You read those quickly and sometimes forget about them. Emails are able to be marked unread, and the format allows for much more information to be transferred at once in a number of ways. Emails can take on the form of documents, memos, flyers, to do lists, portfolios, among other things and can be accessed from anywhere.
DeleteI like your emphasis on file sharing; it has been mentioned above, but I think you make a good point at making file sharing a core part of your argument. It definitely is more difficult to send files over social media and through phones. I know for me this is true with many classes; a group needs to get pieces of a project together and e-mail truly is the easier way. I would bet many groups in this class will use e-mail to complete the project for this class. I know my group has been using it at every step so far.
DeleteOn that topic I would have to agree with Tracy, e-mail is not just for "old-people" it simple has a higher level of functionality and different subtle message as opposed to other forms of communication. It can also be noted that "old-people" tend to have jobs, which is where e-mail is dominant. To me the functionality that e-mail holds is crucial when it comes to sharing files and information to larger groups of people.
On a personal level the rate of response you would get from me is calling is the fastest, followed by texting, then e-mail, then Facebook. I see Facebook more as relaxed atmosphere so I have no urgency in getting to a Facebook message. Also, considering the poor quality of the Facebook app especially compared to the G-mail app, Facebook is simply too much of a headache to check.
~Dan K
I agree with you about the file sharing being most easily usable through emails. This is certainly a reason emails probably will not go obsolete in the near future, however file sharing is also possible pretty easily through facebook. The only downside is that it can not transfer as big of files. If this small problem was fixed, maybe emails could be replaced by facebook messages? I know I have personally sent numerous files to friends on facebook because it was easier than asking them for their email addresses. However, when it comes to professional messages, I agree with you and would not want to use my personal facebook as a method to contact professionals and potential employers.
Delete- Aesha Patel
I actually don’t agree with your file sharing point. A lot of times I tend to share important documents for my Exec board on our FB group messages. It’s convenient, everyone uses facebook and can get it fast, and knows exactly where to find it if they need it again. The File sharing function is primarily used through email because it is usually catered to a more professional audience, which share files for work purposes.
DeleteFurthermore, I don’t agree that emails are used by old people. Many young people in high school and college also use emails, a lot of the times because they have to. TCNJ has it’s own email server for students to access their email, and I personally know I check my email 2-3 times a day at least. Yes, kids before middle school probably do not use emails, but that’s because they have no professional need for it. Emails are for professional use, not old people in my opinion.
- Mehak Aswani
Aesha Patel:
ReplyDeleteI do believe people are using more and more ways to communicate with people and emails are becoming less and less prominent as time goes on. Texting to let someone know an important message will get to them faster than an email will because they check it more regularly. Facebook messages even get faster to some people than emails do because they check it more regularly.
However, I do not believe emails will become obsolete any time soon because in order to remain professional, emails are still very necessary. E-mails are also necessary to save conversations for many years after. At my old job I would spend hours searching through old emails to find clients who asked for certain paperwork and make sure it was received. This would not be possible through texts as neatly as emails work. So as long as no other professional alternative is made for emails, they will not become obsolete.
Also texts are not convenient to send attachments, although facebook messages can be used, not everyone has a facebook and it certainly is not professional enough. I would never send a message to my employer through facebook.
For the future, in order to stay competitive, e-mails must be more easily accesible. Like texts, one should be able to instantly get emails and reply on their phones. Although i know this is available now, it is not as fast and will show up 10 minutes later. If this speed is increased to the speed of texts, e-mails can stay very competitive in the market. Also, a way to block spam and emails we do not want in order to prevent clogging of our emails boxes would also be a convenient feature that benefit the use of emails. This and many other aspect to make emails as convenient and fast as texting would enable the future of emails to stay active. If emails were to go obsolete, I believe the next big thing will be a new app or media usage strictly for emails that conveniently organizes all messages.
Aesha,
DeleteYou make a lot of good points in your reply. I mostly agree with how emails are used as historical data that could be searched through for years after. You can look at older emails to and from clients to recall previous orders or complaints and cater more specifically to the client. Also the attachments for email are extremely simple and just like messages are searchable and accessible.
For your point about emails and mobility, I am able to use my phones application system to just as easily read and respond to emails as i do texts. It is extremely convenient and streamlined. The unfortunate downside i that attaching and reading attachments on the phone is a more difficult process than on the computer. Therefore the future app you have suggested may be the similar to current apps with more file sharing capability.
There is a clear divide in the forms of communication that older generations use in comparison to the youth. Our generation prefers communicating through text messages, snap chats and other quick and effective forms of communication that do not take much effort. In contrast, older people much prefer to send e-mails and put more time and effort into communicating.
ReplyDeleteThis can be seen even in the real world. During the time that I spent being in a fulltime office role, I had witnessed this generational divide in communicating. As mentioned, many companies have installed internal instant messaging systems to provide for more efficient communication. I found myself using my company’s messaging system quite often in order to quickly get a question answered or to simply speak with someone. The primary mode of communication in the work office is certainly e-mail, as you need to send files to other employees and it is also effective in reaching a large number of people. However, the older employees would refuse to use the company’s messaging software and would resort to using e-mail for all forms of communication – even if it meant sending one word e-mails that would be typical of instant messaging. While I do think that instant messaging is the way of the future as the youth begin to make up the majority of the work force, e-mail will still have a role because of its ability to send files and communicate to more than one person at a time, as well as the ability to search through one’s e-mail history for previous conversations and files.
-Nathan Coyne
Nathan, the experience you mentioned (working with people of different generations in an office) seems to fall in line with the sentiments in the initial post. It appears that members of older generations tend to prefer email while younger people prefer quick communications such as instant messages and texts.
DeleteI'm curious, however, to see how this plays out when considering other uses of these systems. For example, you mentioned that email was necessary in your office partly because of the need to send files. How do you think the generational divides about email that you witnessed would play out if the file sharing issue weren't present?
Even though the millennial generation has an infatuation with instant gratification and the latest and greatest of technology, I think that E-mail still serves its purpose. To say that E-mail will be replaced by text messaging and instant messaging is similar to comparing apples to oranges. In my opinion, E-mail is more tailored to the business environment whereas texting and instant messaging are more casual conversation pieces. Though some businesses are now utilizing instant-messaging for fast-paced information transferral, E-mail is still used for document sharing and editing purposes. Email has a few distinct advantages over texting and IMing in the business world. Firstly, E-mail is universal. Virtually everyone has an e-mail address and can be reached across a variety of different providers worldwide. Secondly, E-mail allows users to send messages and information to a large number of people by simply adding a specified group or list serve. E-mails can also be CC'd by head officials, which allows for executives to oversee the functionality of the enterprise. Lastly, E-mail has a very organized structure that allows the user to file conversations and messages into different folders and mark them according to level of importance.
ReplyDeleteThough I do acknowledge that significant advancements will most likely be made to the E-mail system within the next few years, I doubt that it will be fully replaced by texting and instant messaging. Perhaps innovations such as live video chat will be incorporated into E-mails so that documents can receive live feedback from the person on the receiving end. Another possible advancement could be within security systems where eye-detecting software could ensure that the official on the receiving end is the only person allowed to view the document. Improvements such as these are likely to take place as technology continues to advance, but I do not think that E-mail will be completely replaced just yet.
Although texting and tweeting are top means of communication for our generation, I believe there will still be a future for e-mail. There are benefits of e-mail that other forms of communication cannot provide. As another student mentioned, file sharing is a main use of e-mail, especially for college students. I always send myself documents through email so I can open them on library computers and print assignments for class. In addition, I believe e-mail will continue to be the most professional way to communicate between businesses.
ReplyDeleteIn order to stay in the communication game, there are changes that e-mail could implement to keep up with other advancements in technology. Unlike text messages and Twitter, e-mail is something that students must remember to check. Although there are apps for cell phones to make e-mail more accessible, I always treat checking my e-mail like a chore. On the other hand, opening a text message or going on twitter is something I do innately. Perhaps the reasoning for this pertains to the idea that most of our generation sees email as a formal means of communication. Since most emails students send are to professors and the like, typing an email always feels like more work. Since our generation enjoys informal methods of communication, society would have to change the way businesses and professionals communicate all together, in order to make e-mail a more attractive method of communication for generations to come. However, the formality of the e-mail is something that older people still value over text messages and twitter. I believe the transformation from formal to informal language between professionals will most likely not happen in the near future and, therefore, the e-mail will continue to be used as it is for now.
- Frankie DiGiovanni
I believe that E-Mail will be relevant for some time yet. Email provides a more formal communication setting than social networks or instant messengers, and also does not come with a slew of additional information. All that is needed is an address, just like mail. Social networks are more of a an overload of unnecessary details that require a request to access. instant messengers are great for short bursts of information, but email has the advantage of being able to have long and coherent conversations over a lengthier period of time. Email also allows for easy file sharing. I believe the largest advantage of Email is actually its historical capability. If someone has emailed my something years ago, I can still search for it and access its information as long as i know something about it. I can pull up an attachment from a previous project just as easily as I reread a promise from my boss last week or last year. Email will not be so easily replaced, but probably will become less used internally for many companies.
ReplyDeleteChad,
DeleteI completely agree with you that e-mail will continue to be relevant in the near future, especially in formal work environments. The most important features that e-mail provides us with are the abilities to 1) easily send files to colleagues, 2) send a message to a mass amount of individuals, and 3) search through one's e-mail history to find old files or information. While instant messaging certainly has its own capabilities that e-mail does not, I truly believe that e-mail will continue to be used in all work settings because of the benefits that it provides.
-Nathan Coyne
Mehak Aswani
ReplyDeleteI do not agree that Emails are outdated. Emails are an essential part of society, even though short, informal bursts of information are becoming popular. Email’s have their own purpose: a professional and formal means of communication. If I need to thank a recruiter I interviewed with, I’m not going to friend them on Facebook and thank them, I would have to write out a formal, proper Email.
Social Media tools such as Facebook and Twitter have taken over the quick conversation function of Emails though. It takes too long to wait for a reply to an email sometimes, which is why people prefer social media for quicker responses. Email sites have tried to respond with things such as “Gmail chat” and “voice calls” through Google mail, which is definitely a step towards faster communication. The Gmail chat functions allow you to have a conversation over chat, similar to the messages function on Facebook.
Despite the fact that a lot more people use social media today to communicate, Email will always be a part of society because it separates peoples personal lives from their professional lives. Email sites have to progress with society and get more user/ child friendly to attract a wider audience. However, I still believe that Emails are written as a formal letter to someone over the internet, and that function must remain the same.
Mehak,
DeleteI can only hope that email remains the same. I personally prefer it as a formal use of communication. Carrier mail is too slow and Facebook messaging is too invasive. My only fear is that the world is moving at a 'time is money' pace. A 24 hour email response time is too long for some impatient people. I feel that email may evolve to expect a shorter response time. This will unfortunately only morph social media communication and formal communication into one way to talk to someone without calling them. This develops a great deal of pressure on the responder and in turn looses the formality of addressing someone.
-Alanna Spellman
I completely agree with your assumptions. In the professional world it is highly unlikely that one would contact a potential employer by friend requesting them on Facebook. E-mail still serves as the most proper way to contact future employers, employees, professors and other individuals in the professional world.
DeleteThe world of social media is definitely used for short communication. At times it can prove to be more efficient and it certainly offers much quicker responses. It is true that both social media and e-mail provide real time communication. With smart phones these days instant notification of email alerts and Facebook messages happen almost instantaneously. As far as I am concerned they both are efficient however, the informality of social media communication will allow the user to reply quicker offering a slightly quicker response. I agree that e-mail will constantly be a useful form of information.
Andrew Hood
I agree with your points that email will always remain relevant because it separates personal and professional interactions. I also agree that the future of email is to be more user/ child friendly. All of the interfaces on common social networking sites are very easy to use, and facebook continuously updates to become more user friendly. Social media does have its place in conveying short bursts of messages to large groups of people, but you are right that you would never contact a future employer through Facebook. Email remains to be the fastest most convenient means of professional communication.
DeleteJeremy Wasserman
I am cherishing email as one of the last forms of communication, done through a technological forum, that allots a window of time for a response. Calls and text messages are expected to be seen and responded to immediately. There are few people left that do not consider their phones as another appendage.
ReplyDeleteText messages currently have a character limit that does not allow the response that some emails require. If email did not exist, messages would have to be drastically shortened, potentially loosing valuable information, or the person receiving the message would be extremely overwhelmed by multiple texts.
Email at this time does not have a read receipt that puts an immense pressure on the responder. It is meant for a more formal communication with coworkers and teachers. When asked a question there is a thoughtfulness that is expected. For example most people still use a formal way to address a person they are emailing and then they sign it. If email had a read receipt such as text messages do, email responses would loose both content and attention to detail in order to provide a quick response. However, in the past few years, email response time has shortened dramatically due to smartphones. The only thing protecting the window of time is that there is often a delay of when your phone will alert you if you have an email, or you can continuously check the app to see if you have an email, which should not be expected.
In a world that does not understand the concept of free time or being off the clock, email is going to evolve. It will most likely transform into a combination of both text messages and emails. The character limit will most likely be increased, and it will be ensured that the person receives the message immediately.
-Alanna Spellman
I believe that there is definitely a future for e-mail. Years ago, paper was the only formal written way for individuals to communicate. And if e-mail was not invented I feel that it would ave remained one of the most formal ways to communicate. Yes, it is true that college students prefer to utilize other forms of communications such as twitter, Facebook and text messaging, I do not believe that these forms of contact will cause the downfall of E-mail. These forms of communication are way too informal for professional communication.
ReplyDeleteE-mail is very organized and efficient. All e-mail is automatically recorded and documented. I feel that unless a brand new form of communication, that is user-friendly, efficient, organized and just as formal, e-mail will continue to thrive (at least in the professional world). However, e-mail will have to continually evolve in order to keep up with the fast paced world that we live in with ever growing technology. Who knows, e-mail may grow into a whole new form of technology that replaces itself.
Andrew Hood
While I agree that email may not be the most appealing tool, I do not believe that it has become obsolete as a means of formal communication. The emergence of social media gave way to many new savvy forms of communication that are more timely than e-mail, but they do not have the professionalism of formal writing that e-mail has. It does not take any more effort to check a tweet or a group me message than it does to check an e- mail because they are all available through mobile phones.
ReplyDeleteSocial media and instant messaging services are better for communicating short bursts of information to a lot of people. I use group me at work, and know for a fact that it is the fastest, most efficient way to send a message to a lot of people at once. Text and Facebook are used more frequently than e- mail, and I am not surprised by the Freshmen’s survey responses. It is true that they use e-mail to communicate with “old people” because it is used in a formal context. The familiarity and accessibility of social media is not a threat to the relevance of e-mail, in fact, they are such different forms of communication, I do not think it is fair to compare them. If anything, the future of e-mail relies on its ability to be convenient and accessible.
Jeremy Wasserman
It can easily be said that the art of emailing has been on the rapid decline. As a new generation comes in, the usage of email will continue to drop as it may not be something as appealing as texting, instant messaging etc. While this may be caused by the fact that texting is far more informal and relaxed, email seems to be clunky and cluttered, or that we live in a time where there are faster ways of communicating our points, it is undisputed that the role of email in everyday communication will slowly die down.
ReplyDeleteWith that being said, however, I believe that it would be nearly impossible to completely eradicate the usage of email. In terms of business, email is used far more than the telephone. While working an internship over the summer, it became clear that email was used greatly when there would be days that I'd step into the office and have over 20 with different tasks to complete. In the business world, I see it being something extremely difficult to do away with. On top of that, as frustrating as they may be something, many newsletters are sent to people via email. For many, this is their primary source of information on purchasing deals, news and general information. Even just through school, it is easy to see why email is so important.
I believe for email to continue, or even thrive, there needs to be major layout customization options that are not currently offered to users. It needs to have something that attracts users and makes them want to actually use it. While I don't think it can die out completely, I do believe that drastic changes needs to be made in order to bring back its popularity.
Alek,
DeleteI totally agree with you that email has been on a rapid decline. When it was first created, it took the place of manually sending letters or mail, and became more and more convenient. I feel like people take email for granted because I for one would not want to have to send mail the old fashioned way because it was formal or professional. Texting, I agree is more informal and relaxed and is often taking the place of email. I agree that the role of email in everyday communication is dying slowly, but I still think that email is still relevant. There is still a great amount of emails sent per day. People would still rather send an email than talk to someone on the phone in a professional setting, and email is still an easy way to get in contact with multiple people at once using a listserv. I also think email is relevant for learning new information. I feel like I am more likely to read an email different deals or what new products are coming out rather than read a circular or an advertisement physically mailed to me.
Going off what you believe email needs to survive and thrive, I like your idea about major layout customization options. This seems like a simple way for users to be more involved with their email and not adding complicated features that will ultimately take from the ease of sending an email. l like adding too many features would take away from the experience even more cluttered than it already is.
I believe that email, although not the most exciting application, electronic mail is very important. I remember when I was younger, my email account was only needed as a primary key to identify myself. I used it solely to sign up and to log in to various sites. Many people like the ease of reading a text message or like having an application like, for example, Groupme which allows for a large group message to relay information. This is all well and good, but email is a more formal way to communicate, and businesses seem to use email very frequently. In my opinion, I don't think email needs to be flashy. Since email came out, the design and the functionality of electronic mail have stayed consistent though the years. The majority of adults use email, and I doubt they are looking for interesting features to make email more appealing, because they ultimately have to send emails out regardless.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that email offers features that texting often makes difficult. I like the file sharing capabilities of email, and think it is much easier than sending something on Facebook or through text message. Though email, I can also look back easily and search what messages I have sent years ago where as text messages often have a limit of how many messages one can keep.
I think that email is constantly trying to stay alive and relevant. What I believe saved email is the ability to easily send email on a mobile device. Many people like things to be convenient, and being able to send email though a phone makes things much easier. Email can still be used as a marketing tool, a way to send files, and more importantly, a way to communicate professionally. If anything were to die out, I believe it would be physically sending mail. That being said, I believe that email will live on. There will be some innovations that will ultimately decide if more people will find sending email appealing, but there is a chance that people’s opinions will remain unchanged. I personally believe that adding different features to email would complicate things and get in the way of how easy and simple it is to use.
Without doubt, email is declining as a service for social communications. Email may have served that purpose in its early years, but has decidedly been overtaken by texting. However, I believe that email is and will continue to be the principle means of formal communication for schools, businesses, and other organizations. The formality and officiality of email cannot be matched by other means of communication such as texting or instant messaging, and thus will continue to keep email relevant for the foreseeable future.
ReplyDeleteHowever, with that said, email is not growing. People use texting and other fast, informal means of communication for more things every day. A quick work-related question can be texted rather than emailed, and the realm of those things will likely grow over time. There is not much that the companies who service email can do to change the nature of email to combat this. However, they can adapt their other products – and their business model as whole, to adapt to this change.
For example, in my opinion, Google cannot change the fundamental components of email messaging to fix this, but they can improve their other applications and messaging services to service these needs, and better pair with Gmail. Although consumers may use Gmail for fewer communications, if Google adapted their other services, consumers would use them to replace those communications previously done with Gmail.
Overall, I believe that email is here to stay, but is slowly shrinking and losing some of its domain. I believe that the future of this situation is for companies to adapt their other services to fit these transforming needs, while still keeping email around.