Switchfast Blog: The Future of IT
Will Social Networking Kill Off Email?
Wednesday, April 14, 2010 by Bryan Anderson
While some social network sites have succeeded to win the hearts
of the world (and others will fail to win over hearts), others
have taken over the bulk of internet traffic. Locations including
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Friendster, and MySpace contain
immense numbers of users that reside far and wide.
While individuals spend more time on social networking sites,
their communication habits tend to change shape. For example, the
days of AOL Instant Message system has turned into Facebook Chat or
Gmail Chat, a program allowing users to communicate within the
platform and not through a different program.
When it comes to establishing digital communication, email has
been a critical service, evolving from its earliest text-sending
form to its real-time application found in Google Buzz. The ability
to interact and exchange large amounts of information over the
digital arena helped shape the internet as a massive communication
platform.
What will happen to email if social media users can apply the
same services through their appropriate networks?
As evidence from Businessinsider.com, social networking has
surpassed email usage in both global users and minutes spent per
month, with time making the biggest leap in favor of social media.
In fact, looking deeper into social media, we'll notice that
Facebook has built its own digital domain, accumulating almost 500
million unique visitors, 400 million more than the next frequented
site. As it stands, social media is standing king among internet
communication methods.
ROI has always been a problem with social media marketing as
most managers demand a "monetary value" on user interactions. Just
recently, a social media specialist company named Vitrue attempted to
value a "Facebook Fan," coming to the conclusion that over a year
each Fan is worth $3.60. While some critics might find Vitrue's
system terribly flawed, the closer we reach a social
media value, the more active participation and integration we will
see from small businesses.
Dan Obregon over at Intelliworks.com points out two separate
reports, supporting the notion that email is "indeed alive and
well," despite the surge of social media.
One of his reporting points say that "if you are executing well
on 'the basics' you're in a much safer place and can confidently
experiment with all the new 'bells and whistles' that you could put
in your marketing emails."
The other report points out the "encouragement of integration"
between the two, pointing out from their research that "more than a
third of companies (37%) are using email to encourage the sharing
of content on social networks, and just under a third of companies
(31%) say they are planning to do this."
The end of the article also links to a LinkedIn poll regarding
this issue.
Is there a simple either/or answer? Email will continue to
thrive as a primary communicator for online users. As social media
continues to expand, businesses will have to decide whether their
audience benefits from email-social media integration or if social
networking clouds the core business message. In most cases, as
we've seen develop, social media in one form or another will have a
profound effect on consumer and enterprise industries.
Until Next Time -
Matthew Hymel
Switchfast Technologies
Chicago IT Support &
Consulting
Rochester
IT Support & Consulting
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