Is email traditional now?

Isn’t it funny how email is considered traditional nowadays? I remember when I got my first corporate email address working at American Express. I thought I had arrived! Just ten short years later, I can create my own corporate email addresses in a matter of clicks.

Armed with 7 email addresses, personal and business, I find myself checking them less and less. They get filled up with spam pretty quickly or newsletters I’ve signed up for that I peruse every now and again. Email used to be a way to keep in touch with others vs. calling them or writing letters. Yes, writing letters! Remember that?

Web 2.0 technology has truly replaced traditional email as a way to keep in touch with others. Connecting has been redefined! Smart phones make it easier to connect since we can access our social networks on the go. Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn are our new best friends, just to name a few. In fact, I could fill a book with how many stories I hear or have experienced first hand about how people have connected with high school friends or long lost family using social networking. Reconnecting has become efficient.

So the new communication model looks glaringly different that it did ten years ago. The options are endless! Here’s some very unscientific results from an informal poll of professionals and what percentage they use different tools to communicate.

% of Time Using Communication Tool