Social media is important but has its place. I still prefer email as a communication tool – even more than phones and text.
But I definitely do not share the attitude provided by one of the leading players in the sector, Peter Dennis, chairman of the Travel Technology Initiative, when he opined recently that social media was a fad. Oops...
The number one online activity remains email but the amount of time spent in social media has now overtaken the traditional leader.
A study from eMarketer published two weeks ago was based on a study taken around the world by research firm TNS.
Fortunately for those like me who prefer email, it seems that we still do it daily more than we manage our social profiles. Or, if you wish, this means those of us who read their email daily are sadder than those who prefer Facebook.
One thing I do feel is that social networks (Facebook vs Twitter) are the norm but the amount of junk being shoved down the FB pipe to users is causing a backlash.
The user communities are not necessarily going to put up with Facebook supremo Mark Zuckerberg shoving more advertising to them. It will also hurt the brands that are allowed to advertise. The behavior again is different than the survey responses.
So email will be with us for a very long time – but I am not sure that the long form is going to be as common.
I was chatting to two friends who are Arabs from the Middle East. We discussed the beauty of language. If you even have the chance to read Arabic poetry in its native form or even in its translated form, the beauty of its brevity and meaning in such few words can be breathtaking.
Sadly in the English language world quality of language has been pushed aside in favor of shorthand, TLAs and corruption of the finer points of the lingo. I have been involved in localization for many years.
Using the English language as the model always causes us some grief because it is more descriptive than other languages because vocabulary enables greater precision and thus allows fewer words to be used in online websites.
Thus the English language takes up less physical space than other languages. Let’s hope we keep trying to allow the quality of language to shine through and yes even in email.
I wonder if we will ever see the collected emails of any of today’s luminaries (like Cheryl Cole or Paris Hilton) as a bestseller like the letters of Dr Johnson.