Email – A Thing of the Past?

[Darius Wey]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200411/200411280034.html' target='_blank'>http://english.chosun.com/w21data/h...0411280034.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"The email era is coming to an end because replacement communication means such as Internet messengers, mini-homepages (dubbed "one-man media"), and SMS are wielding their power. As a consequence, the stronghold of email, once the favorite of the Internet, is being shaken from its roots."</i><br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/web/2003/wey-20041201-Email.jpg" /><br /><br />Oh dear. The world's tech-savvy nations never cease to amaze me. Reading <a href="http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200411/200411280034.html">this</a> article made me feel a little old and withered. :|<br /><br />While IM and SMS are a godsend, I personally feel as though they don't yet fulfil the role of being complete email replacements. I always saw email as being a fast and easy way to relay both formal and informal communication from one person to another, yet it was never meant to be instantly replied to. So comparing emails to IM and SMS can be very "apples-and-oranges" to say the least. It will be interesting to see how far this goes though. Emails have long killed the pen-and-paper letters that were around decades ago. Whether IM and SMS kills off email is a whole new concept to be explored. Only time will tell. So I guess the people in Korea won't be wanting their Gmail invites then. ;)<br /><br />What are your thoughts? Will email still be around for many years to come, or do you think it's drawing to an end and is in dire need of a replacement?

[acollet]

Even in my professional life, email is becomming less and less of a useful tool. In my company, IM rules the roost. e-mail is left for nothing but sending fiels and calendar invites.

[ricksfiona]

I work with many small businesses who are JUST NOW getting comfortable with e-mail. It takes a small business forever to get comfortable with technology and to use it to it's full potential.

Considering that small business is the biggest employer in the United States, it's going to be years before e-mail goes away, if ever. I would say to re-visit this question in 10 years.

If only there was an easier way to get rid of SPAM... We solve this, then e-mail will be around for MUCH longer. Are we listening world leaders?

[Phillip Dyson]

As far as function is concerned, I think that IM is the same as a telephone call.

Personally I prefer email on both sides of the conversation. Especially when there is real information to be passed.

As a developer, I like being able list the entire scenarion. Give all the options. As a fully qualified question.

Then allow the other person to read it, think about it and give me back an informed reply.

Phone calls often end with "Let look at it and get back to you."

It doesn't do me any good to put someone on the spot when they can't give me the best answer.

If its something quick, then sure IM, or perhaps get up and walk over. 8O

[emuelle1]

IM is good for instant, informal communication. It's also good for things like still being able to converse with my friend in California when I live in New Jersey. Great for maintaining ties with otherwise good friends who never did respond to snail or email.

In my company, email is still a pretty good tool. I think that for personal applications, it may start to move over. Just as junk mail has taken over the 1st class service from the Post Office, and telemarketing has taken over the telephones, personal email is giving way to spam. But for formal communication, it still has a lot of life left in it and companies are just barely starting to scratch the surface of what can be done with it.

[egads]

I'm a techi kinda guy and I have never felt the urge to IM. If I want a bunch of technical questions answered I send a email, if I need to talk to someone I call them or walk (heavens no, no walk) to their office.

IM is a toy for teens to play with...

[emuelle1]

I definitely won't get into an IM chat with someone who can't use somewhat proper English, but I've found it to be useful for casual chatting, when possible.

When I have problems with my DSL that don't involve my connection, I both call their tech support number and log on to their tech support chat. Whichever one gets picked up first I use and I disconnect the other one. I've found the chat to be fairly useful, and one operator can handle several problems at once rather than one.

I wouldn't want to do a chat on my cell phone. It's hard enough to put in names with the number pad.

I think there's still a lot of undiscovered potential for IM that adults and "geeks" such as myself can use without the silly language and spelling.

[capo]

I'll take email over IM for just the reasons the article claims Koreans prefer IM. I don't like being a slave to the tyranny of the urgent. Email gives me a chance to formulate an intelligent informed answer and it can wait until it's convenient for me to answer. IM is like the phone - it demands immediate attention and interrupts the flow of my work. Some interesting thoughts in this thread though - "Just as junk mail has taken over the 1st class service from the Post Office, and telemarketing has taken over the telephones, personal email is giving way to spam." Very good point.

[Cybrid]

...I'd say the two would become one and the same....kinda like calling someone and getting their voice mail. Seems like the most logical.

[Skitals]

I usually use two forms at once... send a long email followed by a short text or im ... "check your email!" =]

Generally, I only resort to email when my contact isnt on an instant messenger, and its to late or innapropriate to call. I usually follow up with an SMS because it is true, people seem to check their email less and less these days, but at the same time we want instant gratification.

[Phillip Dyson]

I'll take email over IM for just the reasons the article claims Koreans prefer IM. I don't like being a slave to the tyranny of the urgent. Email gives me a chance to formulate an intelligent informed answer and it can wait until it's convenient for me to answer. IM is like the phone - it demands immediate attention and interrupts the flow of my work.

I completely agree. I don't prefer IM because I don't prefer the phone.

As to spam, I have to admin that I think it mostly the result of people not doing due diligence.

I work for a major company and I NEVER get spam. Its not like no one knows the domain is there. Either the tools are there or nobodies hitting the domain.

As to personal, I had one email address that got tons of spam. The I killed it and was more careful about where I left my email address. Now I hardly get any. Anything that slips through, Mozilla pretty much zaps it.

[OSUKid7]

I've told people that 95% of my email isn't from an actual person - and I'm probably not stretching that. (I guess I could tally up a week or too, but yeah...just go along with me. :lol:) But really, nearly all of my emails now consists of forum post notifications, newsletters, or some other kind of recurring email. If I actually want to talk to someone (who I know), I'll usually IM them unless it's important and they're not around. I do use email for formal introductions though, but probably because I don't know their email addresses! IM is great. It's instant. What I don't like are people not using away messages. That's like having a phone with no voicemail/answering machine.

I love IM. Now if only we could get some global IM standard like POP for email. Sadly I think that's a decade or so off. :|

[silver99]

So long as there's printed material in the world there will be need for e-mail. I rely on this heavily for sending and receiving proofs. Not to mention the inter-office exchange of MS Office files.

I agree that SPAM is a unncessary nusance that can eat some time out of your day but in the end e-mail will not die (at least not right away).

And although you can (very easily) share documents, files (of practically any size) compared to email with IM, the real problem lies with so many different types of clients (AOL, Messenger, ICQ, etc.). Trillian does a good job to clean up that mess but I don't think it supports iChat (I could be wrong).

[Perry Reed]

I guess I'm just an anachronism or maybe just plain old! I use email more than any other application on any given day, including Internet Explorer. Although, I admit, I cheat a bit. I use the IntraVnews plug-in to Outlook to bring in all of my RSS feeds into Outlook (similar to Newsgator) so that instead of browsing sites, I use the email approach for all of the blogs I read regularly.

But even with that "extracurricular activity" I do in Outlook, I still do a TON of "regular" email. Sure, I IM, too, and phone people, but nowhere near as much as I email. And that goes both work and personal contacts. I've always used email as my preferred method of communication. I also subscribe to a ton of different email lists.

I'm sure I'm not the only one. So I don't seriously see email going away anytime soon. Other methods of communication, like IM, will simply exist alongside (and perhaps become more closely linked with email in some manner or another).

The one BIG issue for email, the one thing that I could see bringing it down, is SPAM. I use both server-side and client-side SPAM filters, and while they eliminate almost 100% of the SPAM I see, they don't eliminate the SPAM being sent to me! Sooner or later that network and storage clogging crap is going cost so much that something drastic will have to be done.

That said, simply "moving" to IM isn't the answer. You don't think the spammers will find you there? On my own blog, I delete over 100 SPAM comments every single day. The spammers will continue to find ways to annoy us until it becomes cost prohibitive to them. And that's the real problem; finding a way to make the SPAM expensive to send because right now it's essentially free for the spammers.

I'm looking forward to seeing the results of the work being done at Microsoft and Yahoo and AOL at fighting SPAM. I sure hope they're successful.

[bigkingfun]

I don't think email is going away anytime soon. The underlying technology may change, but I think the theory behind it will be around for a long time. Personally, I only have one person who I talk to on IM and it's more because I can than I need to. He just lives across town, so it's not like I'm saving any $ on long distance phone calls or anything. If IM systems start to make inroads on email, I don't really see it as being a different technology, just a different method of delivery. If I'm away and the IM sits there until I am back at my desk to reply, how is that any different from email? And similarly, if an email message comes in when I happen to be reading my email, I can reply almost instantly, again not much different than IM technology.

Personally, I think that some effective anti-spam measures will be implemented over the next few years on a large scale and email will continue to be a major part of the internet for many people.

[bobmay]

In my office email will never die. I have to follow up several face to face meetings, and phone calls with email for the CYA effect every day. That's why most emails have endless ccs. With the new corporate laws security wants to take away our IM because of no record. Email is a lasting record of what was said, agreed to, or ordered. In an office setting most use email instead of using their memory, or honor.

[xendula]

At work, I use email and the telephone, but rely almost completely on SMS and the phone for personal communication. Many of my friends may go online or maybe not, but they all have their cell phones close by and get my SMSes right away. If I leave them voice messages on their answering machines, they might not have any money left on their prepaid cell phone accounts to even call up their voicemailbox, but receiving an SMS does not cost anything in Europe.
IM and email require for sender and addressee to be sitting in front of a computer (in most cases) at exactly the same time, if you want a reply right away. If there is no reply, you never know when the message you were trying to convey was received, with SMS you know for sure.

Despite all of this, I don't think that email is going anywhere - for as long as there is the internet. But I think that it is like the modern fax. You would not think that this stupid almost-medieval technology is still around, but STILL people ask you for your fax number - because it has its own place in the business world.

[ignar]

Two things. Mobile phone market is completely saturated in Korea. I guess the ratio between phones vs. population is larger than 1. So, you can assume everyone has a cell phone and SMS access. Second, SMS in Korea is much more reliable than in the US.
If those two things come true in the States, which I think will happen eventually, I can see more and more "personal" communications moving toward SMS route. On the other hand, for business sector, email will still be a valuable and indispensable tool.

[rmasinag]

I'm a email and pager type of guy. Yes! I have a pager, you guys remember those. I have prepaid phone so I'm picky on calls I take and I can answer on my leisure. Same thing with email. I'm so busy at school that if someone IM's me i get pissed off. I just email them later.

I thinking of getting an ipaq 6300 even though I'm a PPC power user. That way I can just get SMS because women are so verbose. It's great cause it causes them to get to the point or else they know I'll ingnore their IMs.

I think SMS is a good bridge but not as good as emails. Some of us still like to think of what to say, and if I want some me time, I can aways answer back with emails.

[Rob Alexander]

I have little use for IM. I'm busy all day and the last thing I need is to have to stop what I'm doing to respond to someone calling live. The value of email is that I can decide when it's time to read and reply to it and, as others have noted, I have time to consider my response before I send it. If I need instant communication, then I can pick up the phone. The only use I can see for IM would be if I wanted to walk over to someone's office, I could see if they're online (i.e. in their office) or away, but since no one where I work uses IM anyway, even that idea doesn't work out.

I had SMS in New Zealand and everyone had it, but I found the little phone keyboards to be such a pain to type with that I rarely used it. The reason it was popular there, though, is that voice calls were much more expensive than here. On my plan, I'd get 40 minutes a month and every extra minute cost about 40 cents. With those kinds of prices, SMS was very popular.

Now back in the US, I have more minutes (700 any time and some thousands on nights and weekends) than I could ever use each month so any particular voice call is effectively free. The company keeps sending me ads trying to get me to pay to use SMS, but why would I? I can have a normal voice conversation with someone for free or pay extra money to try to squeeze meaningful communication into a 160 character message typed in on a tiny keyboard where I have to hit a button 1-8 times to get each letter I'm after. Please. By the time I type an SMS message, I could have already called, finished the conversation, and gotten on with my life.

[ChuckyRose]

I think the issue with the article is desktop e-mail. I think if you asked them, "Do you ever use e-mail on your cell phone?" the percentage would go up. Now, I don't know about Korea, but here in Japan, SMS is not a big thing. All communications between cell phones was done using actual e-mail with e-mail addresses and going to the internet and everything. It is used probably how SMS is used in Europe, but with a much bigger message size limit and you can send to and receive from any e-mail address in the world.

Here in Japan though, I think(my conjecture only) one reason SMS hasn't caught on is because of SPAM. I don't know about other countries besides North America, but here ALL cell phone numbers have a set prefix, either 090- or 080- which are ONLY for cell phone numbers. Knowing this, I could send out SMS messages to all combinations after those prefix and know that I'd get through to someone's phone. Instant SPAM list. Maybe I just don't know how SMS works, but to me, that seems like a big drawback to using it here in Japan.

Like I mentioned at the beginning, I think a better question to ask would be "How often do you use e-mail/Instant Messenger/chat on a computer?" With cell phone penetration in Korea and Japan at ridiculous rates, there is little need to use desktop e-mail I think. Looking around me here in Japan, I see few people with desktop e-mail addresses anymore, but TONS of cell-phone based e-mail addresses. Maybe it's just a different manifestation of the Blackberry craze going on in the U.S. Always on, push e-mail.

ChuckyRose

[webdaemon]

No way! My company uses email for communications with most of our clients and IM only for internal communications. There is no way I want to be available via IM to outside clients and vendors. I'd never get any thing done if clients could IM me with the tiniest detailed questions. At least eith email they have to think a little about what they want from me. If they were able to IM me I'd get really stupid questions and requests from them

Here's to hoping Email remains the communication choice for business!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Darius Wey]

If only there was an easier way to get rid of SPAM... We solve this, then e-mail will be around for MUCH longer. Are we listening world leaders?

SPAM filters are always a nasty thing to get going... especially with new ones arriving in people's inboxes every day. "They" claim that SPAM will be gone within a few years due to new anti-spam technology: that's a bold claim IMO, but time will tell. ;)

[Darius Wey]

Two things. Mobile phone market is completely saturated in Korea. I guess the ratio between phones vs. population is larger than 1. So, you can assume everyone has a cell phone and SMS access. Second, SMS in Korea is much more reliable than in the US.

Interesting statement. It does indeed depend on your location. In my opinion, email still has it's place in the world. As does IM, SMS and phone calls. I use all four forms of communication copiously and heavily rely on it to relay messages to my friends and colleagues. Heck... if email was non-existent, PPCT News would crumble... :wink:

[Darius Wey]

Here in Japan though, I think(my conjecture only) one reason SMS hasn't caught on is because of SPAM. I don't know about other countries besides North America, but here ALL cell phone numbers have a set prefix, either 090- or 080- which are ONLY for cell phone numbers. Knowing this, I could send out SMS messages to all combinations after those prefix and know that I'd get through to someone's phone. Instant SPAM list. Maybe I just don't know how SMS works, but to me, that seems like a big drawback to using it here in Japan.

Again, this is very location-dependent. Not once in my life have I ever received SMS Spam. The only thing I'd consider to be SMS Spam would be my mobile provider's messages on important updates, but even then, they get sent once in a blue moon. (Thankfully) 8)

[LarDude]

I'd be interested in seeing a demographic breakdown of the age and profession of the people who use email vs IM/SMS more often (than the other). As others have mentioned in this thread, I also liken IM/SMS to a phone call, whereas email is more like a letter or some "more formal" correspondence -- where you may need to retain a record.

Before anyone declares that email is for "old foggies" whereas IM/SMS is the way of the future, one should also consider that there would naturally be a strong correlation between age and the "professionalism" (for lack of a better word, at this moment) required of ones internet communications. Younger people (i.e. teens and early college crowd) may be using internet communications primarily to stay in touch with friends -- and here, the multi-participant nature of IM/SMS is particularly advantageous. For the "older foggies" who need to use internet communications at work (i.e. less of a "frivolous" use ;-) ), formality and record keeping are important, and here email seems better suited -- a search engine based email system (such as gmail) is probably the first step in the next stage of email evolution.

[Darius Wey]

I'd be interested in seeing a demographic breakdown of the age and profession of the people who use email vs IM/SMS more often (than the other). As others have mentioned in this thread, I also liken IM/SMS to a phone call, whereas email is more like a letter or some "more formal" correspondence -- where you may need to retain a record.

Great thought! This may make a great front-page poll. PPCT is definitely a diverse community and we have members in almost every country, so it would be great to see how people use these electronic forms of communication in their respective countries. If time permits, I'll see if I can set up a poll.

[Albegor]

I'll take email over IM for just the reasons the article claims Koreans prefer IM. I don't like being a slave to the tyranny of the urgent. Email gives me a chance to formulate an intelligent informed answer and it can wait until it's convenient for me to answer. IM is like the phone - it demands immediate attention and interrupts the flow of my work.

Great words, I also cannot agree more! :D
IM and SMS are useful tools, but abuse of them and you'll get some very bad habits in no time... something I hate to see in our youngest generations. :roll:

[xendula]

Here in Japan though, I think(my conjecture only) one reason SMS hasn't caught on is because of SPAM. I don't know about other countries besides North America, but here ALL cell phone numbers have a set prefix, either 090- or 080- which are ONLY for cell phone numbers. ChuckyRose
In most of the European countries (if not all) cell phones also have set prefixes. Spam is still not a big problem in my country, maybe because it would be easy to find out who sent it and legallty punish the culprit. We hardly have Spam snailmail or telephone marketing here.

The reason why SMS is not so big in Japan might be because Japan is SO ADVANCED in mobile telecommunication. Over here you CAN send emails over regular cell phones only if:
-you have a smartphone (UMTS if you are lucky) and an online flatrate with it
-you have a smartphone/blackberry and willing to pay the cost
-you use WAP (which never took off as they intended it to)
-you have a contract phone and can send/ receive SMSes that your carrier turns into mini-emails (or vice versa), meaning that you pay for incoming mails, too

Once UMTS becomes mainstream, SMS might die as well, you never know. Right now, pushing the same button several times to get one letter does not bother us much, as we can do it blindly by now without even looking at the screen or the keypad.

[Jonathon Watkins]

Lots of very good thoughts in this thread. :)

For the "older foggies" who need to use internet communications at work (i.e. less of a "frivolous" use ;-) ), formality and record keeping are important, and here email seems better suited -- a search engine based email system (such as gmail) is probably the first step in the next stage of email evolution.

Totally agree. At work we need email to keep a track of decisions &amp; conversations, as well as to give folks more time to think when replying etc. Email is less demanding than IM. I even switch Outlook off when I am concentrating on a task as the incoming email can be very distracting. I shudder to think what it would like with multiple incoming IM streams as well. 8O

[Darius Wey]

I shudder to think what it would like with multiple incoming IM streams as well. 8O

Unmanageable! I've tried typing a PPCT news post before while chatting to four people simultaneously. It was rather unproductive. :roll:

That is why I like email. It allows me to communicate without having to worry about instantly replying.

[Jonathon Watkins]

That is why I like email. It allows me to communicate without having to worry about instantly replying.

Snap. I have email overload as it is. :|

[ebb]

I was surprised that no Koreans said anything about this. I hope this post can tell you more things than the given article.

First of all, the article, I think it was bit exaggerated. Chosun Ilbo is the biggest media (among the newspapers) but certainly does not excel in high-tech topics.

I'm just an `ordinary` university student who uses all: IM, SMS, email. Among 20~30 SMS I receive every day, 1/4 is spam. SMS is 30 won(about 1100 won = 1usd, that makes about 11 won = 1 cent) per message. And I pay about 7~8$ just for SMS. A SMS-holic friend of mine sends 100~120 average, every day.
There is one thing I should mention: SMS here, it's not just a communication between people. One example: most credit card companies support SMS notification so if my card gets swiped online or offline, I get SMS on my phone telling me the time and location of card use.

Several IMs are still in competition, with MSN as one of the leaders in the market share. (I use two, including MSN) I've lived in the US for several years and how people use IM is pretty much the same in Korea.

It is true that SMS and IM may have taken some roles of email, but email is still valuable. The biggest reason is that I can't use SMS or IM to anyone: IM is rare in ages over 40's, and sending SMS to a non-familial, older person is considered impolite (Confucianism) unless it's under one of the 'notification' purposes. In addition, no one think of SMS as an `efficient` way to express one's expressions.

To be exact, Koreans do not favor `writing letters` as much as Americans or other Europeans. That might explain the decrease of email use.

[Thorsten]

Jonathon, Darius, I could not agree more. Most people underestimate the amount of distraction created by IMs, SMS or even using a mail notifier. I shut all of them off when I need to get some work done. I just blogged on a similar issue this morning: http://digital.blogs.com/imanage/2004/12/stupid_ideas_of.html

[Jude]

The value of email is that I can decide when it's time to read and reply to it and, as others have noted, I have time to consider my response before I send it.

I can have a normal voice conversation with someone for free or pay extra money to try to squeeze meaningful communication into a 160 character message typed in on a tiny keyboard where I have to hit a button 1-8 times to get each letter I'm after. Please. By the time I type an SMS message, I could have already called, finished the conversation, and gotten on with my life.

I know a lot of Americans (both in person and on the net) who still don't seem to understand exactly how SMS can be of any use to them. And here's the explanation I tend to launch into.

Well, over here in the Philippines, the supposed "SMS capital of the world" (5 Billion messages a month and counting!), people like SMS for the same reasons you like e-mail. You don't have to read and reply to it right away, and you have a little time to think about what you're going to say.

Also, most Filipinos are not as confrontational as some Westerners so unless they're really close to a person, given a choice, if they can avoid dealing directly with a person (like via a voice phone call), they'll choose the more indirect mode of communication, in this case SMS. It's considered more convenient and less intrusive to send an SMS because the recipient isn't forced to think of a response right away in real time or to even reply at all. A lot of trivial messages meant to express nothing of importance, or just to spread gossip or non-essential information are also sent on the spur of the moment, with no expectation of a reply. These frivolous messages are the type of things you wouldn't "waste" a phone call over, but would think nothing of sending an SMS for. If you want to tell something to a friend that you think he might be interested in but isn't important enough for him to find out about right this instant or interrupt whatever it is he's doing, then you send an SMS, which he can read and reply to at his leisure. If you just call and the other person is busy or out of range, all he'll see is the missed call notification, not knowing why you called. But with an SMS you can already say why you want to be called and when to call you back, i.e. "Call me later tonight about Dad's birthday party.

Group sending to more than one recipient is also another contributor to SMS' popularity, it's become indispenable for organizing parties or impromptu meetings or info brigades. As for the speed of input, well, practice makes perfect, and kids over here start texting as soon as they can read. A lot of Filipinos can send SMS without even looking at their phones. Our smaller fingers also help matters. And you'll be amazed at how much info you can squeeze into one message (and theoretically there's no character limit anymore since almost all newer phones support automatically breaking up longer messages over several short messages).

Besides, a typical SMS "conversation" here goes:
A: Are we watching a movie later?
B: (5 minutes later, after using the toilet) Yes, what time are we meeting?
A: (10 minutes later, after asking his boss if he can get off early) 530? I can get off early
B: (7 minutes later after checking the traffic report and the movie schedules, also via SMS) Ok, but make it 6. There's heavy traffic and the movie starts at 730 anyway.

See that if this conversation took place as a regular phone call, they'd be going: "Waitasec, I'm using the toilet" or "Hold on, I'll ask my boss if I can get off" or "Call you back after I check traffic and the movie sched" during several points in the conversation. In this case, you're still carrying a "conversation" but you have a break after each statement to go do and check on other things without theoretically interrupting the exchange. So we kinda use it like a cross between IM and e-mail. It's a more "laid-back" form of communication compared to a phone call, with less "pressure" to communicate between the two parties, but it's more immediate than e-mail.

A lot of people (especially the generation who grew up without computers) here have skipped e-mail completely and gone directly to using SMS since a cellphone is less intimidating and (for the simpler models) cheaper than a computer.