The TOP DOG Says Email is "Probably Going Away"...

Teenagers don't work or have blackberry's yet..

Facebook.. meet egg... egg.. meet face.. (book)

Do you mean like a "Speak it into existence" type thing?...

What will be the replacement for email if this is the case. The need for basic communication will not cease. Think of all the things email is used for.

I think Facebook has a narrow view of the way social interaction takes place and maybe an overblown view of their own importance.

Furthermore, how can you base a conclusion like this on such a small segment of the population. Especially teenagers, who as they grow older will shift in their basic communication needs. Once the reality of the real world sets in email will become a staple of their lives.

Email will be replaced by facebook.

Search (Google) will be replaced by facebook.

Instant Messenger is now obsolete .. there's only ..

Facebook will go away before email does.

Email predates the web by a wide margin. But SMS doesn't REPLACE what email does. It's just a better channel for doing what people had come to use email for because there WASN'T a better way. Email is still the correct replacement for paper mail, sending documents, long form communications, receipts, stuff like that. The metaphor of the "inbox" isn't something that will just go away.

In my opinion anyway. I might be biased since I mostly write emails for a living.

If it is going to happen it won't be anytime soon. I read recently that email CTR increase by 11% by adding the follow me, add me social buttons to emails being sent to clients.

Look I build my whole business around email, been making money with it for 10 years. Facebook is write in that email is not going to be used for the friend stuff, emailing jokes and emailing friends. That is moving to facebook and text messages and that cannot be denied. People still will use email though. What email has taken the place of is postal mail, sending notices, making orders, doing work stuff. People are not going to stop using it. It is just that less people are going to use it for friends stuff like they used it in the past. This is already starting to happen.

Facebook promoting themselves ? lol

Probably they want that all communication to be done through their internal facebook message system

They dont say how many messages their users are exchanging

Short story : stupid article

This makes perfect sense.

I wonder though, since you always hear about how you should "make friends" with your list so that they like, know and trust you do you think this will affect email marketing?

Lee

Actually, I'd say it's an interesting observation, and could well be 'pretty' true to a certain extent.

I don't believe e-mail would disappear 100% (just like you can still buy a typewriter if you want to, but you won't find too many people using a typewriter in an office).

If facebook does make some smart moves though (intergrating e-commerce *within* facebook), then yes -- it could replace e-mail very easily.

I thought Google Wave was going to kill email?

I dont think Facebook is looking at email as a marketing tool... they must be talking about email as a social means...

Honestly, don't you recognise a darn press release when you see one?

Until I hear it from Sexy Sarah Palin's mouth then I'll believe it.

I'll worry about email going away when I feel the need to have automatic facebook notification for email that I receive, rather than the other way around, which I'm thinking isn't ever going to happen

Well, Facebook would say that.

It's like bottled water companies saying you have to drink 2 litres of water a day. It's in their interest.

A lot of people were saying direct marketing was going to vanish, but it just evolved further with the internet and became even more important.

Teenagers have no money to spend anyway. And the few who do, if their parents give them an allowance, will spend very little.

Its not so much that Email is going away but more that Email will be integrated into social networking. With OpenId and facebook connect we are moving toward having one or two profiles that we log into everywhere. Once messaging is fully integrated with that profile then email separate from the profile has less value.

Facebook will go away before email.

If you really grew up with the technology, you would see that this is a fairly accurate statement.

You can access many things straight from your mobile phone, including facebook, msn (goodbye texts!) etc etc. They are much cheaper, and keep you in touch with your friends anywhere, anytime.

No need for a computer to do those things.

Observe your surroundings!

Real work demands sending attachments and not having your message get through because too many people are playing Farmville, Fishtank and Next Week's New Game.

Bill Gates also said at one time that computers would never need more than a megabyte on the hard drive or something to that effect...

This is just another example of people making predictions that we will laugh about for generations...

a few guys had the same thoughts I did.. aol, compuserver, etc..

I think facebook will eventually be replaced by the next social/community site (remember classmates.com).. and eventually they will all need to show a decent profit, or they will all go the way of the other dot com's from not so long ago.

In the 15 years I've been doing this I have heard that so many times! Guess what ... never happened!

I would agree, that 'email' as we're used to it will be going away - for many, but not all purposes.

If you're sitting at a desktop computer, then maybe it has some purposes.

But here is what I see happening ...

My high school daughter and all of her friends -- none of them use email. They text via phone.

Through Facebook I can send someone messages. No spam in my account.

So between mobility and the spam problem, there are other and better ways to send "electronic messages" that do not involve a traditional email account.

Anytime I see a headline like this, I know that whatever is being dismissed is still relatively popular and will be for a while.

I give him credit for trying to jump the gun but from a logical perspective email will be around for bit.

I just had to get out of my flying car which we were all promised by this date to to put my two cents in.

The facebook dude really, really wants you to do your email through FB. Look at the money he makes data sharing. I can't imagine the reaction of customers finding out their optins have been shared all over the globe, though. I can't even say I'm not toying with the idea of dropping my facebook account because I don't like my info being shared the way it is now. I know better than to put things on there that I don't want read - but really what's this guy doing? I write in here I love Kurt Vonnegut and get back to my FB page and have ads for Vonnegut pasted all over it -- and THAT is who I'm going to use for private emails? LMOA -- not in this lifetime. If he doesn't cool his jets, you are going to find FB nothing but another blast in the Way Back machine before too long.

Conversely, Google has an overwhelmingly popular email program and I haven't heard a peep from them that it is becoming obsolete.

Well I could go on...but, time to get back in the car and fly to the store to get some dinner.

These companies are funny.

Microsoft was supposed to do away with IBM; guess what. Then Google was on a path to knock out Microsoft; guess what. Now Facebook is poised to be a huge problem for Google; umm... really?

eMail; (from a programmers stand point -- and we're the ones that make the Internet "work"); is about the only sticky piece of ID that can be used with any consistency. This is why the ones saying its going away still require an eMail address to register.

USAGE, yes.. that will change. As more and more alternative/additional means of communication become available; people will realize that the tool should fit the task. Just like folks are understanding rapidly that cell phones and driving don't mix.

What if Facebook goes away?
Does anyone rembember MySpace?

Ya ya ya... twenty years ago they told me that in the future I would be carrying my own telephone around with me and that I would be using that telephone to instantly buy things, do my banking, pay my bills, and sell stuff... Oh wait, never mind. Disregard this post.

What these social networking sites forget is that you need email to sign up to their services.

Like Garyv said, you need an email address to sign up for facebook, for anything really. I don't think facebook could ever replace business email.

There's a time and place for everything and having a little separation between work and play is it important, even on the computer.

I know that I don't use email the same way anymore, however I do still use it. Whenever newsletters come to me, I will read them, when I'm in the mood or if it is appealing to me. However I have noticed that I spend much more time with social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.

Given that many businesses are starting to connect with customers, and even promote on sites like Facebook, Twitter and even Myspace, it's no wonder that many people are predicting the phase out of email. For the time being, I can't say whether or not this is true. I will still send out emails to my list, while at the same time use my Facebook page, Twitter and blogs to get messages out.

Not all are, and then again, there are adults that are even lazier (i know friends of mine (i'm 18 btw...) that are MUCH more active then I am (their like what, 15-17?) then again... i know buddies that are much lazier.

Not all teens are lazy, but most are it's the age factor, the "your parents provide for you" and all that stuff....

Other than that, not much diff (other then experiences)

Teens ARE lazier in GENERAL because they have mommy and daddy paying

It was a good life

Don't get so offended, you're probably a hardworking teen (guessing you're a teen from your posts.... could be wrong...)

Anyways, forget about it hehe, just live your life the way you want, and F()ck the people who judge you (or anyone else)

Have a good one

David

Nice thread. It's certainly stimulated discussion. Opinions from all sides and some off topic posts.

Personally I agree with the next two extracted comments:

Facebook is not a world institution, IMHO, it's a fad and it will fade out as quickly as it faded in.

As for this post:

"everybody" ?! I hope that the poster was only joking :rolleyes:

Just my thoughts,
Jeff.

If you are not build lists on these different social media sites you should. If you start a group on Facebook the members of that group you can sent them a direct E-mail message through Facebook.

This type of article has been came before too from Facebook on other sites also and gone by time so thats just a article who knows what will happen...

Isn't Facebook's 15 minutes up yet?

Hey, just asking... because it seems like yesterday when MySpace was "the big thing." But I haven't even heard it mentioned in ages.

And when will Twitter be replaced by some other form of communication that doesn't force you to try to say something meaningful in only 140 characters. You know, something like... e-mail.

Johnny

What B.S. Teenagers when they are teenagers will be nagging these sites. Soon they'll stop and learn to do something else and we will have to reach them there. They change.. they evolve. so it's not facebook. Whatever they say is a lie.

I don't think SMS or social networking sites are alternative for email. I think that there'll be a development with communication similar with email but to completely lose it is improbable. Email is just snail mail but better.
Teenagers spend their time updating their Facebook, sending SMS, Tweeting or whatever social networking sites are out there but when it comes to business, there'll always be a professional mode of communication and posting it on walls is definitely not one of them.

So I guess by next year all of us will be wearing are trousers pants half way down our buttocks.

The good thing about email, is that it's a common protocol. And it can't be owned or dominated by one company or website. And anyone that's been on the planet long enough, knows that no matter how big a company or website get, they never remain on top. And on the internet especially, there's always a website around the corner that has the potential to be the next altavista... yahoo.... askjeeves.... google.... myspace.... facebook....

Email, as it currently IS, might go away.

Email is changing and these days, we have chat clients, and Twitter-like applications in them (Google Buzz anyone?). Google Wave, social networking, Twitter etc have changed the perception of email.

What the biggies like Facebook and Google want is not for email to go away. They want to own EVERYTHING. They want a microblogging application, they want a messaging platform (that's all that email is anyway, if we think about it, it's not much different from Facebook's own PM system), they want a social networking site, they want to have videos.

Basically, their goal is to own as much of the Internet as possible. The days of one company doing one specialized thing is over.

So in Facebook's ideal world, the way email currently is will die; the new email will be their personal messaging system. That way, you don't need your traditional email to sign up. The 'email address' might be name [at]facebook.com

Fabian

Email is not going anywhere anytime soon too many businesses rely on Email. Like previously posted Teenagers are teenagers so yeah they are gonna use Facebook, and Myspace to communicate.

They are not business people well most lol some will surprise you. Lets see when they get about 25 I bet they use Email a lot more often especially if they are running a business.

I will never put all my messages and communications in the hands of 1 company that can ban me at will (along with all my communications).

Pure publicity stunt.

You're all fools! I'm investing heavily in Pterodactyl revival through advanced genetic retrieval technologies. Then I have my other shell company investing in mass production of stone tablets and chisels.

That's right beeeeyotches! Flintstones Tech, baby! Laugh now, but when I'm a trillionaire I'll remember the scoffers. OH YES I WILL!

Eat it.

What B.S. Even the teenagers back then never used email. They only used messaging...