Email is dying
Email is so … last year. What was once the best way to keep in contact with colleagues, friends and overseas family, is becoming less relevant in my life as a way to reliably communicate with those people.
In its place I am starting to use platforms like Twitter, Facebook and other social networks. Sure, there is often an email component in those (notification messages etc.), but as a direct channel to people I know, and want to connect with, these are far more preferable.
It’s not spam alone that is killing email, although for me it is the primary challenge. My work computer is constantly churning through incoming email and an army of mail filters herd incoming messages into desired (and undesired) folders for review. Go a couple of days without checking email and all hell breaks loose and enough processing cycles to power a space mission are required to get email back on track.
But as I said, for me spam is just one of the problems and I am starting more and more to use platforms like Twitter and Facebook for communication for a number of reasons. Some of these include:
1 – Changing details
Friends change jobs, phone numbers, email addresses. At least if I message them on Facebook I know that they will get it without me needing to remember (or even know) their address. I use this regularly to communicate with my immediate social circle.
2 – Volumes
One or two messages on Facebook are so much easier to deal with than ploughing through tons of incoming email to see if anything of value can be found. The truth is that I really only receive a small handful of real emails a day and yet I feel overwhelmed by email. It seems to pour in and constantly need attention. Which makes it hard to focus on the ones that matter.
3 – Spam
This is the killer. Even with the best efforts spam messages creep through and clog up the inbox. But more of a pain are the messages that are not spam that get filtered out. Even with filters, spam is not out of mind. A regular check of junk mail folders needs to be done to check messages from family members (who have suddenly adopted a new email address) haven’t been filtered out.
4 – Immediacy
Email, despite what my parents might think, is slow. Instant messaging means that I can communicate quickly with associates and direct messages on Twitter find their target accurately and quickly.
5 – Trust and assurance
This is the big one for me. Connections on Facebook and Twitter are people I know and have direct contact with. Messages that originate from these sources are almost guaranteed to be from people I allow to connect with me. I don’t need to filter my direct messages on Twitter or my Facebook inbox to weed out spammers. Twitter, with enough followers, also gives me access to people in my industry without needing to capture all their email addresses. And popping a direct message off to the head of a company on Twitter is less formal than an email.
I know that email is still good for many things and won’t die any time soon, but when it comes to my trusted network of contacts there are very often better ways to communicate with them.
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