Is “e-mail” on its way out? And is “Social Media” taking over?

This is the first post in what is likely to become a series of reflections on the role of e-mail and Social Media today and the upcoming years.

After 15 years of internet, is e-mail hanging on by a weak thread?

E-mail is overused and even abused, and users’ mailboxes are congested--worse than traffic in the busiest metropolitan areas of the world. People are tired of scrolling up and down the inbox and many stopped looking at, and not to mention responding to, e-mail messages except for the urgent messages from their bosses or customers. Reaching people via e-mail (unless you are their boss or customer) has become quite challenging. It is “extreme” e-mail fatigue that we are suffering from. So many things fall through the cracks and so many inefficiencies are invading the work place and our personal lives. Does this sound like “chaos”? Well it is!

Is Social Media taking over?

While Web 2.0 tools (such as blogs, wikis, and Microsoft SharePoint) are emerging as the better alternatives for collaboration and information sharing, in this post, I am interested in focusing on the Social Media platforms and reflecting on their relationship to e-mail today and in the future.

Social media is the new kid on the blog (relatively new compared to good old e-mail).  People are still excited about the Social Media platforms. Even though these platforms are quite busy, they tend to be less intrusive than e-mail, and they give users the ability to scan the feed casually and jump in and respond only when they desire to do so. The expectations are less while the reach is much broader. And these platforms provide messaging functionality (similar to e-mail and Instant Messaging) which seem to get more attention and better response time than the traditional e-mail. 

And now the questions

• Where do you see the future of e-mail versus Social Media?
   
• Will it get to our work life as well (having more structured enterprise Social Media platforms that would include collaboration and social media all in one within the firewall)?
   
• Will the traditional “public” e-mail approach eventually go away?

What do you think of this hypothetical chart showing how the time spent on e-mail (and therefore the role of e-mail) will diminish over the next few years while the time spent on Social Media will increase. E-mail me YOUR  version of this chart (training@people-onthego.com):

 
Graph: Hypothetical hours spent per week on E-mail versus Social Media!

Overwhelmed by e-mail and Social Media? Check out The Accomplishing More With Less Workbook Amazon.com and what readers are saying about it.

 

Comments

[Jennifer Duchene]

I feel that Social Media gives one an out from email. Email is definitely a more time consuming, time sucking intrusive beast. Social Media allows you to be in the drivers seat and to connect in real time and have a conversation, which is powerful. Relevancy changes so quickly. I don't have a graph but I think within 2 years email will be pretty much passe. Even the enewsletter is loosing its luster.
We will have the ability to connect and relate in even more effective ways through social media, more efficient tools that will enable us to communicate on different levels in one place.

Jennifer Duchene
www.LYShome.com

[Leila Bulling Towne]

I'm scared if social media is taking over email in terms of an information medium.

So far--and I'm not experienced at it--social media is mostly pushing out information and allowing others to REACT to what has been posted. I don't feel that Twitter and FaceBook create dialogue.

Email does create dialogue. Then again, it annoys and frustrates me that email and IM are used instead of getting up and walking down the hall.

Nothing perfect . . . but talking in person or over the phone comes close.

Leila Bulling Towne
Executive Coach & Organizational Development Consultant
The Bulling Towne Group, LLC
1.800.789.8449
http://www.thebullingtownegroup.com

[Aradhana]

Well, I think social media in some avatar will take eventually take over-it just seems to be a richer interaction. However, for the next couple of years I think we will continue use emails for professional purposes and when they want to reach larger audience at once.

Social media applications need to get smarter about allowing us to cleanly have multiple user profiles, groups, and discussion forums for the same username - after we project a different aspects of our personalities at work, home, and with our friends.

In conclusion, I think social media would eventually take over but today email seems to be better option for professional contact, at least for me. :)