Want to verify a bank account? Email. Amazon? Email. Forums? Email. Even Facebook in the early days? Email. This is a big part of why email continues to thrive

Want to verify a bank account? Email. Amazon? Email. Forums? Email. Even Facebook in the early days? Email. This is a big part of why email continues to thrive. So many services have email baked in (e.g. a new WordPress install sends you an email). There are some services that let you choose between email and SMS, like plane reservations and banking alerts, but 95% of the time, any notification will come through email. Given that, there is no way you could eliminate email without cutting off all those services in the process. Any new protocol to replace email would have to be a drop-in replacement for anything that currently sends out email or at least coexist peacefully alongside it. You would think that if anyone could accomplish that it would be Facebook or Twitter, but I haven't seen any integration like that so far (e.g. get your plane reservation update or Amazon shipping confirmation by Twitter DM or Facebook message).