With all the other ways to communicate that are quicker and more compact is email being replaced? Is it dying to twitter?

@deairby

I’m maybe one of the hardcore fans of email so I don’t think it is dying soon.

For sure, there are great alternatives out there but it is always an “addon”.
I like to send my business documents via email instead of uploading it to dropbox and sharing the link.
I like to reach everybody in my contact list without logging-in to LinkedIn, G+ or any other network. For me, email IS a time saver as I can do all the sharing stuff etc from one location. Sure, a lot of people out there would call me crazy but with a great folder structure and filters, it’s just working.

Communication is made easier today but it always needs still two persons using the same technology. I can’t write my LinkedIn message to someone on G+.

So, all tools that gives us the chance to communicate in an easy way have their cons as well. Instant messaging is great as long as your partner is using the service as well.

Three different networks with different contacts on each could cause you some headaches for follow-ups.

I’m not writing proposals or quotes via a twitter DM

If I meet a new person, I’m asking for their email adress and try to avoid asking for the G+ URL.

Email is an old but proven tool and I will use it as long as it lasts

@donpurdum

You could be right that this is a generation thing!

From my view, I’m one of those trusting only their own infrastructure for some business needs. I rarely have business relevant things up in the cloud.

I know some freelancer which made the move to the cloud ones and for all. Nothing stored locally. So what happens if their account got hacked? If the hosting company is changing something in their TOS, etc.?

So, communication is the most important factor and I won’t believe that any social network will be able to expand as much as email did. I would say, currently and within the next years, you can’t replace it. Btw, facebook tried it with your username@facebook . com. Gmail, as example, is proven, I would like to see the more detailed integration with G+. But that means, you should better on G+ as well

Instant messaging or social media networks will only work if your partner is already there. Sure, it depends what kind of person you are trying to reach. 

@deairby From my experience, e-mail is alive and well for specific purposes (like @nickrock ‘s proposals) and segments of the population (those who don’t want to be connected 24/7 or who can’t afford a smartphone and its data plan, for instance). Hopefully e-mail spam is dying out!

@donpurdum

in schools and that, yes email is definitely dropping, but in the business world?  not for a very long time.

there are too many reasons to keep it.  familiarity, the ability to store and search through old messages, being able to see other peoples email mailboxes, etc, etc.

i dont even think its a generational thing.  i think its a corporate world thing.  once people leave college they get a desk job and boom, use email.

I think on top of cost there’s the issue of security that continue to haunt some of the other platforms.  email for the longest time was rejected as a way to send information, especially important/official information, because of security concerns.  Some companies are still insistent that certain information only be delivered hardcopy because of security.

The technology behind email has really improved since its haydays.  I think if we see other media improve to equal or better security measures, it may be considered as a more serious form of communications.

But when every other day you get reports of another facebook or twitter account broken into (and not just little accounts but really well know people), I know I personally wouldn’t want to trust my critical business data to go through those systems.

I believe it’s not an “either or” proposition, that is, email will remain strong just like social media platforms are gaining momentum. Did video kill the radio star? Did internet kill print publishing? Ok, bad example…

Seriously, email marketing remains key to the marketer’s toolkit as it remains the one and only medium that guarantees sitting in a customer or potential customer’s inbox. Facebok? Your post may never make the newsfeed. Twitter? Even worse. Sure, there are ways brands can go around this, but email remains the best way to make it into the inbox, where your community has a chance to read its content.

My 0.02
Cheers,
Frederic

thanks for the input, guys @fredericgonzalo @danonbranding

great info, thanks @fredericgonzalo

@atlantarobin Well Robin, my experience in the past two years experimenting combining email + social media tends to back the findings from the econsultancy post.

In my previous role, heading marketing & communications for a ski resort, we had developed a pretty extensive inbound marketing approach. Our email blasts would go out to a base of more than 20,000 avid skiers, snowboarders and outdoor lovers. Once we had built a thriving Facebook page, with over 10,000 engaged fans, created a dedicated Youtube channel and started a corporate blog, we started cross-referring these channels in our communication tactics.

To give you an example: you send out a newsletter (email) to the base, with editorial content, and it would get CTRs of anywhere between 3-10%, depending if we featured a promotion, ran a contest, etc. But as soon as we’d feature a video from our Youtube channel, bam! You’d see CTRs that could go as high as 15-20%. Same if we ran a promotion, which was linked to the Facebook page, the email performed well-above average.

To me, it’s making sure email is part of your overarching online brand eco-system, having a link to your SM in your emails, and vice versa: that is, you should also grab some email data through other channels, on site, via mobile apps, on Facebook landing page, etc.

That’s my gut feeling explanation

@deairby You are welcome!

@atlantarobin You are too kind, Robin! Just sharing experience, in the true essence of these SME clubs. I have been learning a lot for other folks here too, in areas where I consider myself novice or in the learning stages…

Have a great week-end!

I don’t think email is dying yet.  For our company, it still is the number 1 source of revenue for our websites. Like @fredericgonzalo mentioned, for social media, you have to post something at the exact time when a person is checking their Facebook or Twitter account otherwise it gets lost.  For email, it sits there.  Plus, you can hold on to the email for a later date.  I am still surprised that traffic comes in from an email sent a year earlier!