I'm a senior in college right now. Over the past four years it seems email has become more popular in my cohort.
When I first started college, a lot of social communication was through IM and Facebook. That's what was used for setting up group outings or dinners or what not.
Now, sending group emails has replaced that. Twitter has emerged as a place for idle chatter. And Facebook is now mostly a rolodex or a place to keep in touch with acquaintances and people I talk to less often.
But email is the backstop. Every other service feeds my email account, and my email account is where I talk to my most regular contacts.
Just wait until you get into the business world. Before I went pro, I was all IM all the time (I'm old so FB/TW wasn't around)
Email is till considered leeding edge for a lot of traditional business, with the phone being the preferred comm tool still.
I really wish email was better, threaded, open .. you name it but it just isn't happening.
I'm shocked (and pleased) when a client messages me on FB or through TW. Although it always leads to a phone call or email (not to mention face-to-face meeting) when we "get down to it".
What I was trying to say is that over the past four years email has replaced IM, Facebook and Twitter as the "leading edge" for my social interactions now, even though I'm not in the business world. They were popular, but they're now mostly on the periphery.
In the corporate world, e-mail is the king. But it is because there is not anything better. It has a lot of problems and it has a broken model for today standards, but still is the best so far.
When I first started college, a lot of social communication was through IM and Facebook. That's what was used for setting up group outings or dinners or what not.
Now, sending group emails has replaced that. Twitter has emerged as a place for idle chatter. And Facebook is now mostly a rolodex or a place to keep in touch with acquaintances and people I talk to less often.
But email is the backstop. Every other service feeds my email account, and my email account is where I talk to my most regular contacts.