Email Isn’t Dead

According to Jessica Vascellaro of the Wall Street Journal, email is dead.

Email has had a good run as king of communications. But its reign is over.

In its place, a new generation of services is starting to take hold - services like Twitter and Facebook and countless others vying for a piece of the new world. And just as email did more than a decade ago, this shift promises to profoundly rewrite the way we communicate - in ways we can only begin to imagine.

That's going just a bit too far. In fact, if you saw the way the entire world freaked out when Gmail crashed last month, you know that email is far from dead. Email is still the primary way that people communicate online.

Yes, Facebook and Twitter may be growing faster than email, but that's only because email already dominates the online communications market. According to 2009 numbers from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 91 percent of online adults use email - including 79 percent of online adults over the age of 73.

Let's compare those numbers to social networking. Despite the hype, Pew found that at its largest age demographic penetration, 67 percent of 18-32 year olds online use sites like Facebook or Twitter. Only 35 percent of all online adults use the sites. True, the numbers for social networking websites are growing rapidly, and provide valuable tools for communicating with friends and family members in new and exciting ways, but they still have a long way to go to replace email - especially in a professional setting.

When it comes to the work Blue State Digital does for our clients, email is still the backbone of our online advocacy and communications strategy with supporters. President Obama's 13-million person campaign email list was widely regarded as one of his most important political weapons during the campaign. The Obama campaign sent more than 2 billion messages during the race - the source of most of the $500 million raised online.

And it's not just the Obama campaign that has benefitted from a strong email program. From advocacy organizations to nonprofits, cultural institutions to universities, strong email components have the proven ability to tell stories, build relationships, and drive action with supporters in ways that an insulated Facebook fan page and a 140 character tweet have yet to do.

For campaigns, organizations and nonprofits, there's the important issue of data control that you just don't have with social networking websites. Say, for example, that you've gotten 10,000 to sign an Act.ly Twitter petition for your cause. Great - now what? Unlike outside social networking programs, you control the data of your own email list. By owning your email program, you know who your supporters are and can message them as you see fit - not under Facebook or Twitter's Terms of Service. What's even more important, you can segment and target your email messages as much as possible to cater to the interests of your supporters. You can look at your results, study the numbers, and create more meaningful conversations that really resonate with people.

Indeed, online communication is changing, and understanding how social networking fits in your personal and professional life to achieve your desired goals is an important conversation to have. Writing off email, however, is not the solution. Email might look archaic compared to the flashy, trendy social networking sites - but the slow and steady tortoise just might beat the hare in the race. It's because email has been around so long, and because it's so simple to use, that people feel comfortable with it online.