Email could be 'extinct within a decade' as teens turn to Twitter-style messaging

 

 

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 9:51 AM on 17th November 2009

 

• Comments (13)
  
• Add to My Stories
  

 

Email took 20 years to develop but may disappear within a decade, experts believe

 

Email could be extinct within a decade as millions of teenagers ditch it as their main form of communication, say researchers.

Youngsters have been shown to favour social networking sites and instant messaging instead.

The report found the electronic form of contact is already becoming 'grey mail' with the most devoted users being pensioners, followed by middle-aged Britons.

 

Although inboxes are still filling up daily all over the world, experts believe emails are dying out because they are too slow, too inconvenient and simply not fashionable any more.

 

Email took 20 years to develop into the phenomenon it is now, but could take just half as long to die out again, said report author Professor David Zeitlyn.

 

Experts reckons people prefer the 'one and done' style of message, which is where a short message like those on Twitter, can be sent to all contacts at the same time.

 

Other email alternatives, such as instant messaging, texting and social networks like Facebook, are quick and easy and can be done anywhere with modern technology.

 

The study by the social anthropologist from the University of Kent, for broadband provider TalkTalk found only 51 per cent of Britons in their teens or early twenties say email is their first choice of communication.

 

More...

 

 

• Twitter on your radio: Tune in for social network updates
  
• Egypt becomes first country to use Arabic internet domain name
  

 

It does not mean email is completely abandoned as 86 per cent of 15-24 year-olds do send out messages this way, it's just they use other methods more often, they say.

 

One of the reasons was that alternatives, like Facebook and Twitter, allow them to send out one message which goes to all their friends at once, saving them time on mailing or texting.

Older generations are still more reliant on email, with 98 per cent of those aged 65 or over using it regularly and 96 per cent of those aged 45-64, said the TalkTalk research.

 

As users get younger, email becomes less popular with 87 per cent of 25-34-year-olds using it.

 

Mark Schmid from TalkTalk said: 'Email has been the dominant mode of communication over the internet for the past 20 years, but that doesn't mean it always will be.

 

'Increasingly people want to send quick, short messages reaching many people in one go, and there are now better ways of doing that than via email.

 

'Based on the trends we're seeing now, email could well be on its last legs by the end of the next decade.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1228483/Email-extinct-decade-teens-turn-Twitter-style-messaging.html##ixzz0X76S0QKu

Twitter will be dead by the end of 2010

:laugh3:

Personal Emails won't be replaced by twitter.

Yeah, I'm so going to tweet what i send in emails :rolleyes:

I'm tweeting Plans, music, conversations on my twitter.

 

 

:P

Twitter will be dead by the end of 2010

 

Precisely. All this fuss and nonsense about it will simply vanish as newer services come out.

Then something else huge will come out and people will say the same thing

I love Twitter and all, but to say emailing will be non-existent is ridiculous.

I'm still waiting for TV to vanish, and by golly, it's still there too!:laugh3:

Yes, Twitter really allows for such in-depth conversations, and it's oh so easy to think, respond intelligently, and mentally digest information on-the-go with Twitter.

And what about books? They're still around too!! I've read from 'books on-line', and given the option, I'll gladly read from a real book, any day.;)

well don't it was said that emails would need to be payed, like a normal stamp mail :thinking:

humbug.

as every summer where the email inboxes get full with hoaxes saying email services and chat services will be pre-pay and not free, bla bla.

 

everyday new ways of comunication and services appear on the net, old services try to adapt to them and some of those new services stay and others disappear.

 

there's no big problem with it, is normal. as for instance now most pages are done in javascript code when not that long ago it was unusual thing. things change constantly as they evolve.

 

not to mention those are a matter of current fashion mainly.