On his blog, Joseph Jaffe has linked to an article from CNN about the decreased usage of email amongst teen demographics. In my mind this has brought up an interesting question: how exactly does one define email?
At first this seems like a silly question. We all know what email is and what it does, but when I look at the many websites I frequent, many of them provide a service that they define as “email.” I can’t recall the number of times my friends have mentioned emailing me and have in fact been referencing messages sent on MySpace. Many of the web 2.0 and social networking sites that I frequent provide a method of messaging, yet technically speaking my Gmail accounts host the only forms of messaging that would be defined as “email.”
Referring to the specific definition of email, perhaps this is declining, but we need to identify how email is understood by the general public. I would argue that while email as a source of messaging may be declining, the amount of communication occurring through messaging services (IM & texting not considered) remains strong.
Teens don’t care how their messages get from A to B as long as they arrive and they are provided with a decent amount of privacy and control over the message. Why would I send a message about my favorite new movie via Gmail when I can message my friends on Spout.com and they know the context before even reading the content.
Perhaps webmail providers can work with these social networks to provide a service that users associate with quality, a service that they have expertise in already, and a service that allows them to further their brand and become more of a presence in areas the audience is already involved in. Just a thought.
Tags: email, jaffe, marketing, messaging, teens, audience participation
