E-mail still #1 Choice for Gen X and Y
A recent poll put out by eMarketer.com shows that even though there is a ton of buzz right now with social media sites, Gen Y still sees e-mail as the most critical medium for messages.
According to the results, 26% of the responders (all between the ages of 18-24) could NOT give up e-mail or texting for one week.
Sparked by curiosity as to what my group of Gen X* connections thought, I put out my own poll asking a similar question. Hands down e-mail was the clear choice of necessity. Interestingly TV was a close second “need to have” while text messaging 4th of the list.
I think a statement by Michael Della Penna, PMN Co-founder and Executive chairman, sums it up nicely:
“As long as email remains the collection point for social networking updates, including alerts around new followers, discussion updates and friend requests, it will remain a powerful force in marketing and our lives.”
What are your thoughts?
Adam:
I think some of this feedback is a bit skewed. With the advent of email, and text messaging integrated with Social Media, it seems to me that “push” email/SMS integration would have the lion share of their attention. Especially since most X/Y ers only have a wireless phone and ubiquitous internet access.
It seems to me that while it may seem cool to think ’email is so 2003′ or something to that effect, it’s still a primary communication channel for most of us, and one that we won’t easily transition away from anytime soon. After all, you have to have an email account to join a social network and as you said Adam, that’s where all the alerts go. I’m one of those people that checks the emails first and then I decide if I want to login to comment, reply, etc. Most of this is happening on my mobile, but email is the trigger for me most of the time.
Thanks for the post.
Mike/Brandon, I agree with both of you guys. What suprised me was the difference of TV and Texting for Gen X and Y.
Thanks for the comments.