Posted by Scott Cohen On January 21, 2011 in story time I 0 Comments
It seems at least once a week there is someone who puts out an article or blog post which declares “Email is Dead!” While it couldn’t be further from the truth, I have a sneaking suspicion that there are three reasons why folks keep claiming that this very powerful channel is dead:
Here are my questions: Why does email have to die for social media to be successful? Aren’t these two channels successfully coexisting now? Why do these folks think social media will replace email?
Those questions are for you to decide. Here’s why I think they’re exaggerating about the rumors of email’s demise:
If you’ve ever flown Delta Airlines, odds are you’ve flown through the Atlanta airport. Atlanta may not have been your final destination, but you’ve made your connection through there. Why? Atlanta is a hub for Delta to fly to the rest of the world.
The key word there is “connection.” And email is the hub for your connections and the conversation. I would argue the “conversation” as it were runs on email. Think about it. What runs off of email?
(I’m not sure if he said it first, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t give props to Loren McDonald for being the first person I heard call email the “digital hub.”)
No one likes to carry around physical receipts anymore. And not many people prefer to pay their bills through the old-fashioned mail-in-a-check-with-the-correct-postmark-on-it process anymore. So what has email become? The new digital “paper trail.”
I shop frequently online. I pay the majority of my bills online. My email account has become a kind of receipt tray for those transactions. I can track just about everything through email.
Those online transactions I mentioned above? Paper trail. Notifications? Paper trail.
These days, people don’t print important documentation; people keep these records in their email. See, it’s the paper trail.
Even social networks recognize that value. That’s why they require email addresses to join.
My good friend, John Caldwell (of Red Pill Email), says that email is the “proto social media tool.” There is no reason email and social media can’t exist together as part of the conversation. In fact, they are better suited to work together as opposed to separately.
Email is what makes the world go ’round these days. It is the ultimate facilitator for connection, providing the fuel for the social network and commercial transaction engines around the world.