E-mail and Social Media
For Jones, the answer to the question “Is e-mail dead?†is an unqualified “no.†But she likens the current engagement with e-mail to watching silent films: “It’s a cold, impersonal experience that lacks emotion. But adding the power of audio and video to e-mail provides the natural ability to capture attention and inspire calls to action. We live in a world of personalization all around us and should expect nothing less from our e-mail communications.â€
In a blog post, “Is Social Media Impacting How Much We E-mail?†nielsenwire’s Jon Gibs, vice president of media analytics, showed that, based on the results of a small Nielsen experiment, “social media use makes people consume e-mail more, not less, as [Nielsen] had originally assumed.â€
This makes sense, says Jones. Like Apptix’s Bond, Jones sees promise in tools such as Google Buzz and believes EyeMail would integrate perfectly with a variety of social media platforms. “This would enable social media users to send enhanced, personalized audio and video messaging via the EyeMail platform, without the recipient having to click a URL to view content via e-mail,†she says.
Bond agrees that e-mail and social media tools can be complementary, but he has some reservations. Certain tools as they currently exist are simply not suited to a corporate platform, he says. “Most businesses don’t accept IM as a business solution. You can’t always audit and track it. From a corporation’s viewpoint, people still assume you’re talking to friends and family and not working.†Still, employee use of such applications has spurred companies to find ways to integrate some tools into the existing infrastructure while maintaining control and addressing compliance concerns.
Is e-mail dead? Far from it. But like an aging rock star who recognizes that he must adapt to remain relevant, e-mail, too, is changing–with a little help from its social media friends.
This article originally appeared in the April 2010 issue of Black Enterprise magazine.