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Email Use Drops by 59% Amongst US Teens in One Year

15 points by gatsby 16y ago

shrughes 16y ago
When I was a teenager, in the early 2000s, we hardly used email at all. We all used AIM to talk to one another. Pretty much the only reason to use email was to sign up for things online.
pama 16y ago
How accurate are these types of measurements? Even if teen email use in the US dropped dramatically last year, how do we know it was replaced by facebook use?
- brc 16y ago
  Exactly - how on earth do you compute 'teen email use'? If it is self-reported it is likely to be inaccurate. If it's based on some type of network analysis, the amount of spam would skew statistics, because spam is only sorted generally at the point of arrival. Anyways, color me skeptical. Even if it was Facebook messaging taking over from email, that's hardly a problem, because in the eyes of the user, facebook messages are email. You have an inbox, sent items, new message, etc. If/when the teens get to a job or study, they aren't going to be stumped by viewing a messaging client instead of a facebook page.
- brianpan 16y ago
  34%
ceslami 16y ago
There is an entire generation of youth who have grown up with Facebook and social networks at the center of their internet experience. While email will likely not be extinct any time soon, it may be used less as a social tool, and more as a business tool.
phatbyte 16y ago
The thing with email, is that, it's messy. No matter what you do, you eventually will start getting unwanted email and spam. It's boring to maintain a clean email address. Unfortunatly there isn't any good alternatives to email. Google Wave tried it, yet, they failed.
- Dramatize 16y ago
  I have two email addresses - one to sign up for things, registrations etc, and one for personal email. Works pretty well.
  - phatbyte 16y ago
    I have that solution as well, but, my main email always ends up with spam content somehow. Maybe it's bad luck
bpodgursky 16y ago
Email is a protocol. Phones are a protocol. Facebook is... a company. I don't like the idea that the coming nexus of communication is a single-company provider, with zero incentive to open up a "facebook message protocol"... they simply want to be the only source of communication. I find this scary.
- rudyfink 16y ago
  I wouldn't worry that much. Phones were a company once too.
  - terrellm 16y ago
    Yes, but I can switch companies when I'm not happy with my current company or don't like their policies. Also, my AT&T phone can call my friend's Verizon phone.
    - Joakal 16y ago
      What about their uptake of new technologies to return savings to customers? Both those providers don't want VOIP to become the norm.
    - harshpotatoes 16y ago
      That wasn't always the case. There was a time before I was born where you either had a phone through Ma Bell or you didn't have a phone.
      - mediaman 16y ago
        Yes, but market forces did not solve that problem. Should we not worry about Facebook because government will solve it?
  - r00fus 16y ago
    Until the US government spent 10 years pursuing action (back when corporations didn't completely control the govt). 10 years is a eon in internet time.
codejoust 16y ago
I am an younger person who sends a magnitude more emails than text messages and facebook messages. Email is useful for classes, coordinating groups, and etc. where facebook and text messages are too limiting to use. Email is also a useful tool to communicate to all age groups.
yogiprerna 16y ago
I don't think this means the 'end of email'. This seems to me like a natural progression. Before FB, Twitter and cheap SMS, email was the most effective means of digital communication. Now we have different tools for different types of digital communication. That doesn't mean email is becoming obsolete. It's a bit like saying mobile-touch computers will replace all other types of computers. I don't see that happening at all. Instead, we just use a number of different computers (in all shapes and sizes), for different situations.
afterburner 16y ago
"emails may simply be too long or too stuffy for daily, non-professional communication" Nah. The reason is no-one wants to log in to two things. People who start out most of their online life on a social network aren't going to want to log in to a second thing (email account) to communicate. I started out on email, and don't want to log in to a second thing (Facebook) to communicate. I let Facebook notify my email when it gets a message though. I didn't want to get into Twitter, but Buzz fit into my Gmail habit (and can even link to Twitter).
Dobbs 16y ago
Before I got into the "professional" world I never used my email. I had one mostly to sign up for things and a few notifications from services. When I started my first job, that was related to my career, my email use sky rocketed. Email is now my life blood. I have over 50 servers that drop me various forms of messages and notifications. I have discussions with my boss about the direction we should take things. My coworkers will use it to ask questions. Email is useful. In fact I would say it is one of the most useful pieces of modern technology we have, but only for a subset of uses. Most people don't have the needs, at least in their private life, that email fulfills. Particularly teens.
- wladimir 16y ago
  I think that's kind of the point. We, as adults, use e-mail, especially at work. By the time these teens get to work, what will happen is a mix of 1) They adapt to using email 2) They'll use their way of communicating with their then-colleagues. New technologies are adopted more slowly at work, but eventually they will be, because people will use what is efficient for them. (For a good recent example, look at the adoption of wikis in companies)
hkuo 16y ago
A drop in email use is no biggie. If it's just about communication, people will IM, facebook message, tweet, SMS, whatever. No biggie. But email isn't just about communication; it's also about identity. And as far as that aspect, email will never go away. At least, I believe, not in my lifetime. To put it simply, as long as you need an email address to sign up for Facebook, email will not go away.
WingForward 16y ago
This article makes illogical conclusions. Here is the primary source: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/Web-based_Email_Shows_Signs_of_Decline_in_the_U.S._While_Mobile_Email_Usage_on_the_Rise http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/W... The chart in the original post has in its title "Web-based e-mail". That chart represents the amount of time spent using web-based e-mail. Not the number of e-mails sent or received on web clients. Not e-mail app usage. And not mobile usage. Mobile e-mail usage amongst teens has gone up 40%. Isn't that a more likely reason for the decline in web-based e-mail that an unquantified Facebook influence?

15 points by gatsby 16y ago

When I was a teenager, in the early 2000s, we hardly used email at all. We all used AIM to talk to one another. Pretty much the only reason to use email was to sign up for things online.

pama 16y ago

How accurate are these types of measurements? Even if teen email use in the US dropped dramatically last year, how do we know it was replaced by facebook use?

brc 16y ago
Exactly - how on earth do you compute 'teen email use'? If it is self-reported it is likely to be inaccurate. If it's based on some type of network analysis, the amount of spam would skew statistics, because spam is only sorted generally at the point of arrival. Anyways, color me skeptical. Even if it was Facebook messaging taking over from email, that's hardly a problem, because in the eyes of the user, facebook messages are email. You have an inbox, sent items, new message, etc. If/when the teens get to a job or study, they aren't going to be stumped by viewing a messaging client instead of a facebook page.
brianpan 16y ago
34%

ceslami 16y ago

There is an entire generation of youth who have grown up with Facebook and social networks at the center of their internet experience. While email will likely not be extinct any time soon, it may be used less as a social tool, and more as a business tool.

phatbyte 16y ago

The thing with email, is that, it's messy. No matter what you do, you eventually will start getting unwanted email and spam. It's boring to maintain a clean email address. Unfortunatly there isn't any good alternatives to email. Google Wave tried it, yet, they failed.

Dramatize 16y ago
I have two email addresses - one to sign up for things, registrations etc, and one for personal email. Works pretty well.
- phatbyte 16y ago
  I have that solution as well, but, my main email always ends up with spam content somehow. Maybe it's bad luck

bpodgursky 16y ago

Email is a protocol. Phones are a protocol. Facebook is... a company. I don't like the idea that the coming nexus of communication is a single-company provider, with zero incentive to open up a "facebook message protocol"... they simply want to be the only source of communication. I find this scary.

rudyfink 16y ago
I wouldn't worry that much. Phones were a company once too.
- terrellm 16y ago
  Yes, but I can switch companies when I'm not happy with my current company or don't like their policies. Also, my AT&T phone can call my friend's Verizon phone.
  - Joakal 16y ago
    What about their uptake of new technologies to return savings to customers? Both those providers don't want VOIP to become the norm.
  - harshpotatoes 16y ago
    That wasn't always the case. There was a time before I was born where you either had a phone through Ma Bell or you didn't have a phone.
    - mediaman 16y ago
      Yes, but market forces did not solve that problem. Should we not worry about Facebook because government will solve it?
- r00fus 16y ago
  Until the US government spent 10 years pursuing action (back when corporations didn't completely control the govt). 10 years is a eon in internet time.

codejoust 16y ago

I am an younger person who sends a magnitude more emails than text messages and facebook messages. Email is useful for classes, coordinating groups, and etc. where facebook and text messages are too limiting to use. Email is also a useful tool to communicate to all age groups.

yogiprerna 16y ago

I don't think this means the 'end of email'. This seems to me like a natural progression. Before FB, Twitter and cheap SMS, email was the most effective means of digital communication. Now we have different tools for different types of digital communication. That doesn't mean email is becoming obsolete. It's a bit like saying mobile-touch computers will replace all other types of computers. I don't see that happening at all. Instead, we just use a number of different computers (in all shapes and sizes), for different situations.

afterburner 16y ago

"emails may simply be too long or too stuffy for daily, non-professional communication" Nah. The reason is no-one wants to log in to two things. People who start out most of their online life on a social network aren't going to want to log in to a second thing (email account) to communicate. I started out on email, and don't want to log in to a second thing (Facebook) to communicate. I let Facebook notify my email when it gets a message though. I didn't want to get into Twitter, but Buzz fit into my Gmail habit (and can even link to Twitter).

Dobbs 16y ago

Before I got into the "professional" world I never used my email. I had one mostly to sign up for things and a few notifications from services. When I started my first job, that was related to my career, my email use sky rocketed. Email is now my life blood. I have over 50 servers that drop me various forms of messages and notifications. I have discussions with my boss about the direction we should take things. My coworkers will use it to ask questions. Email is useful. In fact I would say it is one of the most useful pieces of modern technology we have, but only for a subset of uses. Most people don't have the needs, at least in their private life, that email fulfills. Particularly teens.

wladimir 16y ago
I think that's kind of the point. We, as adults, use e-mail, especially at work. By the time these teens get to work, what will happen is a mix of 1) They adapt to using email 2) They'll use their way of communicating with their then-colleagues. New technologies are adopted more slowly at work, but eventually they will be, because people will use what is efficient for them. (For a good recent example, look at the adoption of wikis in companies)

hkuo 16y ago

A drop in email use is no biggie. If it's just about communication, people will IM, facebook message, tweet, SMS, whatever. No biggie. But email isn't just about communication; it's also about identity. And as far as that aspect, email will never go away. At least, I believe, not in my lifetime. To put it simply, as long as you need an email address to sign up for Facebook, email will not go away.

WingForward 16y ago

This article makes illogical conclusions. Here is the primary source: http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/Web-based_Email_Shows_Signs_of_Decline_in_the_U.S._While_Mobile_Email_Usage_on_the_Rise http://www.comscore.com/Press_Events/Press_Releases/2011/1/W... The chart in the original post has in its title "Web-based e-mail". That chart represents the amount of time spent using web-based e-mail. Not the number of e-mails sent or received on web clients. Not e-mail app usage. And not mobile usage. Mobile e-mail usage amongst teens has gone up 40%. Isn't that a more likely reason for the decline in web-based e-mail that an unquantified Facebook influence?