Email is the ‘Killer Social App’ for Business

Even with all of the hype that was given to new social platforms on the Internet in 2007 (and $15 Billion valuations) , email and mobile communication remained the social communication champions at the end of the year. Unlike social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace), giving someone permission to be on your email or mobile contact list is scrutinized on a much more personal level, requiring trust and relevance.

I get new friend requests from people I don’t know every day on Facebook; and it’s not uncommon to see personal profiles on Facebook, Bebo or MySpace which contain thousands of ‘friends’. Personally, I’m a bit slow to add new, unknown friends into my social networking circle. Social networking environments are like a rave (for younger users) or a conference mixer (for professionals), in which you mingle with many you don’t really know and have a bit of fun. But the next day, you email or text your real friends or colleagues and talk about the party. Even the Generation Y set distinguishes between superficial, large-group social activity and more meaningful, interpersonal communication.

“…What’s interesting is that they don’t use IM much either, nor do they use Facebook or MySpace much. So what do they do? They text each other on their phones. And, get this; they call each other and actually TALK. Can you believe it? Social networking through actual direct human communication. Unlike most people in the business world, students aren’t in front of their computers all day long. Their cell phones are their main computing devices. So their social graph is their cell phone contact list. The people they text and call…” continue reading

For the over 30 set, email is the tool most often used to keep in touch with friends, colleagues and professional contacts. Of course, this communication often takes place on mobile devices these days. With smartphone prices coming down year after year, the percentage of mobile email users will continue to rise in years to come.

For business, email continues to be the most widely used communications tool. In 2007, there were over 727 million business email users worldwide, and Ferris Research predicts that the number will grow to just under one billion by 2010. Spam aside (which accounts for over 75% of all messages sent), 25 billion email messages were sent each day in 2006.

Social networks are wonderful places to post events and share links or files with a general community; but targeted personal or business communication relies on personalized messaging, and email will remain the most practical and flexible solution for doing that in 2008 and beyond.