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Is Social Media Killing Email?
The evolution of online communication and commerce

Ten years ago, internet users were putting along the information super highway at a snail's pace by today's standards, and online activities were limited and inefficient. Needless to say, a lot has changed over the past decade when it comes to internet user habits and communication platforms. With the availability of mobile internet and its applications, as well as lightening fast processing speeds, users spend less time overall on the internet but complete more tasks. Email is becoming a thing of the past, just as chat rooms did before it. Many of these developments can be attributed to the colossal rise of social media over the past few years.

In 2007 the median number of hours internet users spent online was 10 hours per week, compared to just 7 hours in 2009, according to the National Technology Readiness Survey™ (NTRS) conducted by Rockbridge Associates. Despite the significant decrease in time spent online over two years, internet users participated in many online activities more often in 2009, as shown in the chart below.

Much of this increase may be attributed to the availability of mobile internet connections and web applications. A good example of this is the boost in online banking and financial activities, including a significant increase in use of online bill pay services and funds transfers. Downloading an application onto your phone that takes you directly to your accounts is portable, quick, convenient, and simple.

Social media has not only aided in the ability to share videos, it has dramatically changed the way people communicate with one another. The NTRS™ reported that 34% of internet users participate in some sort of social network, such as MySpace or Facebook, in 2009. This is a significant increase from the 11% who said they had a social networking page in 2007. In contrast, significant decreases have occurred since 2007 among those with blogs, from 30% in 2007 to 12% in 2009, and personal websites, down from 24% to 17%. Social media fulfills users' needs by allowing them to have their own personal profile, a forum to share their thoughts, inform friends and connections what's going on in their daily life, and of course, the ability to directly communicate with others in real-time. Facebook, which some consider the gold standard of social media, allows members to send private messages, post public messages, and even send instant messages. And with over 500 million members, most members can log on and touch base with hundreds of people simultaneously. This ability to interact with so many people simultaneously, and in a variety of methods, is negating the need for email in many circumstances.

This year's Beloit College Mindset List, meant to aid teachers in relevant cultural references, has deemed the graduating college class of 2014 as the "post-email generation," as it is considered too slow for every day use. As social media continues to dominate internet trends and change how users communicate online, it is important to look back at how it all began, from chat rooms to blogging, and to venture a guess of "what's next?" in this ever evolving online world.

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