Essay - Social Networking Vs Email

Social Networking Vs. Email

Email is often seen is a dying fad, whilst social networking sites are on the rise, with Facebook signing up its 30 millionth user in July 2007 (Joinson, 2008). So to what extent has email evolved and if so diminished in the last century, especially with the introduction of new communication methods such as instant messaging or social networking sites. Perhaps it is the issue of generation, that has effected the use of email, and if so, could generation Z perhaps revive the fascination and extent of use that email once had? Issues of Spam have also affected email that could be contributing to the increasing unpopularity of email. Whereas social networking sites have continued to expand and gain popularity as new sites such as Facebook appeal to more people and offer new exciting aspects in their sites. But perhaps email itself has expanded past its original aspects of Outlook Express or webmail etc, perhaps in the future email and social networking sites will evolve into one application or network.

Email, or electronic email, “is a virtual mail system which sends documents from one sender to either one or multiple receivers” (Stockwell, 2008) In email’s early days, it was revoluntionary and cool, allowing for people who were once not contactable to become instantly available. (Stebbins, 2007). However over time, email has faced a lot of ridicule and many people have lost trust with email due to the infamous spam viruses. More and more users “are falling victim to phishing, a growing form of online identity theft”. (Garreston, 2004, Pg 1). Although people are trying to cure these many viruses and put a stop to them, new forms of spam are constantly being discovered, that means there is no “practical cure” (Garreston, 2004). Spam has done well to prove itself a persistent and permanent problem, with it taking up approximately 80% of email across the world (Garreston, 2004)

Social networking sites allow a user to edit profiles and status, post bulletins, blogs, comments and photos, join groups, events, and networks, and of course send mail. Whereas all email can really do is the latter. The main function for social networking sites is that you have the ability to connect with other people or ‘friends’. This is also one of the main reasons that these sites are so popular, as people can keep in contact with old friends from all over the world and also have the opportunity to meet new people online. (Joinson, 2008). The April introduction of Facebook chat that incorporates instant messanger on a social networking site has been received well, despite a few teething problems. (Smith, 2008). This is just one example of how new communication technologies are becoming more popular and more advanced, leaving behind the ‘old media’ like email, that don’t provide the same dynamic communication and interaction. (Joinson, 2008)

Social networking sites are considered more appealing than email, due to their ever-changing attractions, “A social network profile is more engaging if it changes frequently”. (Lenhart & Madden, 2007, Pg 4). Social networking sites are constantly creating new things to do on their sites, and have come along way from the basic models of Friendster or Myspace. On Facebook, you can play games from poker to sodoku to beer pong, however games applications are only one of the many applications available on Facebook. You can add your favourite TV program, and take trivia tests or get funny quotes from any series. You can rate your friends on their personality and looks, and compare them with other friends for titles such as “most likely to make me laugh”. On Bebo you can create polls or quizzes for your friends to participate in. The list goes on for the endless amount of possibilities that are available on these sites, which is one of the reasons that they have attracted such popularity. “The rapid increase in participation in very recent years has been accompanied by a progressive diversification and sophistication of purposes and usage patterns across a multitude of different sites.” (Gross & Acquisti, 2006, Pg 71).

Unlike social networking sites, email has the ability to attach files, documents and photos from your computer. However, there is no need to attach photos to the email, when the photos are already in an album in on your profile. And there is not need to create mailing lists when you have the ability to send messages to all of your ‘friends’. And of the people using social networking sites, 82% of them use it to send private messages to other friends within the networking site. These private messages can be considered a sort of internal email. (Lenhart & Madden, 2007)

However for many people the simplicity of email is more appealing than the chaos of social networking sites, they are able to use email as a sort of task manager or to do list. (Stebbins, 2007). Also email allows for contact when the sender wants to contact the recipient, and the recipient can contact back on there own terms, when they want. This efficiency and simplicity can be debated as factors that make email an appealing program that has just started to evolve and develop. By regularly monitoring the flow of your inbox, email can help to gain control and help people to “stay in touch in our increasingly fragmented world” (Smith, 2007).

Even though generation X are normally associated with being techno phobic, they use email more than generation Y. Described as the ‘social networking teens’, generation Y prefer to use instant messenger and networking sites to communicate with friends rather than email. (Marriot, 2007). For teenagers, email is often only used to communicate with teachers, bosses and parents, those of generation X. (Stebbins, 2007). 55% of teenagers or generation Y who use the internet have profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook or Myspace, whereas the 75% of adults that are using the internet, only 16% use the same networking sites, however 92% are using email. (Internet Activities, 2000 – 2007). It can be argued that as generation Y continue into the workforce, they will be forced to use email to communicate with colleagues. Also as networking sites, especially Myspace is blocked at many workplaces and schools, they will only be able to go onto social networking sites in their own personal time.

The debate over whether email is dying out, has been disputed and supported over the years, especially as new technologies are coming into creation. Perhaps only time will tell as to emails place in the future. It could remain in the workforce or be reinvented. As social networking sites continue to change and increase in popularity, not just for college students and teenagers, they continue to endanger the future of email. Social networking sites have come along way since one of the firsts, sixdegrees.com, which failed to find a purpose to its concept. (Gross & Acquisti, 2006). Integration of both social networking sites and email, in some ways already exists and will perhaps develop further.

References

Journal Articles

Joinson, A.N (2008). ‘Looking at’, ‘Looking up’ or ‘Keeping up with’ People? Motives and Uses of Facebook. CHI 2008 Proceedings. 1027 - 1035.

Stebbins, L (2007). Email is Evolving – Are You? Searcher Vol 15. 2 - 6

Lenhart, A, and Madden, M (2007). Social Networking Websites and Teens: An Overview. Pew Internet & American Life Project. 1 – 7.

Gross, R and Acquisti, A (2006). Information Revelation and Privacy in Online Social Networks. Carnegie Mellon University. 71 - 75.

Garretson, C (2004). E-mail At a Crossroad. Network World Vol 21. 1 - 3


Lectures

Stockwell, S. Lecture 6 – The History of Computer and Internet. New Communication Technologies. 16th April 2008.

Websites

Marriot,, C (2007). Is Email Facing Extinction? Retrieved from http://www.imdeiaconnection.com/content/15637.asp

Internet Activities. Pew Internet & American Life Project Tracking Surveys (March 2000 – December 2007). Retrieved from http://www.pewinternet.org/trends/Internet_Activities_2.15.08.htm

Smith, M.A (2007). Is Email Dead? Retrieved from http://advice.cio.com/miles_a_smith/is_email_dead

Smith, J (2008). Facebook Chat Launches- Tour & First Impressions. Retrieved from http://www.insidefacebook.com/2008/04/06/facebook- chat-launches-tour- first-impressions/

Lee, T (2008). Social Networking Sites Turn Outward. Retrieved from http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20080511/11461 51076.shtml

Essay Outline

Is Email Dead??

Websites:
http://advice.cio.com/miles_a_smith/is_email_dead
http://email.about.com/cs/spamgeneral/a/email_is_dead.htm
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/04/03/i-only-use-email-to-communicate-with-old-people/
http://www.pewinternet.org/trends/Internet_Activities_2.15.08.htm
http://www.pewinternet.org/topics.asp?page=2&c=3

Journal articles - Workplace user frustration with computers: an exploratory investigation of the causes and severity.
http://libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/pqdweb?did=1214305691&sid=2&Fmt=4&clientId=13713&RQT=309&VName=PQD
http://libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/pqdweb?did=734525531&sid=2&Fmt=4&clientId=13713&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Include history of email – when it was first invented, when did msn etc come into and what happened to email when other uses of communication were introduced. Who primarily used it when it was first introduced?
What was it first used for and how has this changed today?

How alternatives to email have affected the lifeline of email?
The introduction to instant messaging and webcam – how did this take away from email?
Networking sites that allow for comments and messaging. Can this still be considered email. And if not has it taken the place of email.
The popularity of cell phones has txting and calling meant less emails.

Who uses email, and over the years how have they contributed to the lifeline of email? What factors contribute to there email use?
People overseas – keeping up to date with people back home.
Business people – instead of face-to-face meetings. Keeps a record.
Students – often a percentage that don’t know how to access it.
Who do people most often email? Family or friends or colleagues?
Does Generation Y or X use email more and what do they use it for? Will Generation Z bring email back to life or kill it for good?

Maybe also think about:
Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo. Outlook Express etc. – does a particular email network influence how the email gets used.

The influence of spam and prank emails – has this made people not want to use email anymore. Who is the most gullible to this sort of forwarding emails.
Has safety become an issue to greatly effect email?

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/evolution_of_communication.php

http://money.cnn.com/2007/09/21/technology/myspace.fortune/index.htm


After talking with Adam and researching further my main issue/topic is going to be about how email has evolved alongside networking sites etc. and how networking sites can be considered just another form of email. I also want to touch on the different age groups that use email or networking sites and who they use what to communicate with.

week 8

Task 1:Advanced Uses Of Microsoft

I found the first few parts of this task very easy to follow and very easy to do. The software where you can trace what you were editing was very intriguing to me and i wasnt aware it existed, and i also adapted to it easily. The Mail merge was a problem for me and my MACword didnt go along with the instructions for the word in the task, this meant that i had to find what the equivilent for mail merge was on my software.

Task 2: Basic Microsoft Excel
I also found this task easy and i was very familiar with alot of the tricks and shortcuts that can be used from my last year at schooling and also from my old work. Maths in Year 13 involved alot of graphs and cell data and so i was aware of more than the basics for microsoft excel.

Task 3: Internet Field Trip
I first tried out habbohotel.com. Creating a person was very easy, although i wasnt impressed with the limited range of clothing and hair options. But you can gain more options the more you are at the hotel, which i guess is one of the insentives to continuing playing in the hotel. I found it hard to follow, on exactly where to go other than your room and how exactly to chat to people. In my opinion i think that much like the real world, you can choose who you want to talk to you and you often base this on there clothing (to a certain extent) as in habbo hotel your first impression is what the other persons avator looks like. which means that to make your avator more popular you would want to make your avator look appealling. i think that i was more wary of who was behind the people as there could be a completly different person to the avatar and this made me stand offish. unlike in real life you are unable to see people for face value and make your own judgements correctly. so i didnt really get used to the chatting sort of thing and i didnt like it that much. It is different to IM as in IM you know all the people you are chatting to and have met them in person previously.