[LINK] The New Email is Facebook Status - Was - Maintaining the link list - Facebook page?

Tom Koltai tomk at unwired.com.au
Mon Feb 21 10:18:00 AEDT 2011



> -----Original Message-----
> From: link-bounces at mailman.anu.edu.au 
> [mailto:link-bounces at mailman.anu.edu.au] On Behalf Of Fernando Cassia
> Sent: Monday, 21 February 2011 8:12 AM
> To: Robin Whittle
> Cc: Link list
> Subject: Re: [LINK] Maintaining the link list - Facebook page?
> 
> 
> On Sun, Feb 20, 2011 at 2:40 AM, Robin Whittle 
> <rw at firstpr.com.au> wrote:
> > The people growing up now (...) probably don't have the 
> same focus on 
> > email as a central tool that I and some other Link people have.  It 
> > seems that Facebook has now taken on this role.
> 
> With all due respect, I disagree strongly.
> 
> E-mail is not going away anytime soon. It´s like saying that 
> because more people SMS than e-mail, then we should use SMS.
> 
> Different tools, for different uses.
> 
> For starters, it´s a prerequisite to have an e-mail account 
> to _register_ and receive notifications on  Farcebook, so 
> everyone who has Facebook has an e-mail account.
> 
> On the contrary, not everyone with an e-mail account has a 
> Farcebook one.
> 
> FC

Fernando,

I'm going to have to introduce an exception.

In 1993, I wrote an article in Chips N Bits magazine that said that we
would all have an email address by 2000. People laughed at me... What's
Email ???

In 2006, two persons in this house had no email accounts [Aged 21 and
16] until they were required to obtain one to get a Facebook account
(and then they asked me if they could use mine to register their
accounts. I showed them Gmail...

Comscore 2010 results show that email is reducing

Quote/  [From Page 7]
Web-Based Email Usage Heads South 
As communication platforms and devices continue to proliferate, the
usage of web-based email has begun to decline, particularly among
younger segments of consumers who are increasingly shifting towards
instant messaging, social media, and mobile communications. Total
web--based email usage declined 8 percent in the past year, with the
most precipitous decline occurring among 12-17 year olds (down 59
percent). Usage also declined marginally among 18-24 year olds, while
more noticeable declines were seen among 25-34 year olds (down 18
percent), 35-44 year olds (down 8 percent) and 45-54 year olds (down 12
percent). In contrast, however, usage actually gained among 55-64 year
olds (up 22 percent) and among those age 65 and older (up 28 percent),
most likely because of continued Internet adoption by these age
segments. 
/Quote

So there you have it, it would appear to be only the baby boomers that
are increasing email usage with the younger people apparently fixated on
short message service, IM and Facebook updates (which currently stand at
4 billion updates per day....)

That's everyone on the net updating their Facebook pages 1.5 times ever
day... And you're still waiting for an email ?

The new Email is a Broadcast FB update for maximum bang per packet. That
way all my friends can see what I'm upto without me having to remember
to CC or BCC everyone...

Remember, the path of least resistance is often that which is most
travelled.





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