21 Oct E-mail Isn”t Going Away Anytime Soon

Back in June of this year, Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg announced that e-mail was officially dead at a Nielsen conference. I, like many others, think that she jumped the gun when it comes to the relevance and use of e-mail.

Facebook and other social networks are certainly growing more popular by the day but that doesn’t mean that people are ready to abandon e-mail just yet. In fact, numbers show that e-mail use is actually growing. It is estimated that there will be 1.9 billion e-mail users in the world by 2013 from 1.4 billion in 2009.

Communication through e-mail is holding strong for a couple of reasons. For starters, e-mail is still considered a more formal communication channel then Facebook messages or tweets. Even college students understand this as most of them look to e-mail as a professional communication channel with employers. E-mail is easily traceable and can be organized so businesses prefer it.

While I think that social media and e-mail have their distinct strengths and weaknesses given the situation, I see an opportunity to merge the two as most marketers and advertisers are coming to realize. Including links to your social media profiles and blog in your e-mail signature will certainly help your exposure. Including your e-mail address on your blog will help people get in touch with you if that is their preferred method. Utilizing both gives those looking to contact you several ways to do so. Assuming that Facebook messages are the way to go could cost you professionally. At the same time a new client could come through Facebook contact. It’s a good idea to make yourself available to everyone.

This idea that social media is killing e-mail is assuming entirely too much. In fact, social media has actually contributed to e-mail. Think about it. How much e-mail do you get a day informing you that you have a new follower or a friends request? I am not saying that Facebook couldn’t replace e-mail at some point, just that is hasn’t happened yet and I don’t think it will be anytime soon.