I'm sure SMS will continue to have its place, and it may find use in the business world with greater frequency than it does today, but I don't think that email will fall by the wayside as today's teens enter the workforce, and I suspect that the primary obstacles are all going to be rooted in some technological limitation of SMS. Here are a few.

1: E-discovery, compliance, and regulatory restrictions are not at all compatible with SMS. I just don't see the telcos providing companies with a sort of SMS groupware technology where they can set data retention policies and such.
2: SMS only allows very short messages to be sent, making it rather impossible to engage in any sort of involved professional discussion.
3: SMS does not have any sort of reply-all feature. This makes group collaboration difficult.
4: No file attachment features.
5: SMS is less reliable than email.

Where SMS might get more traction is as a replacement for shorter notification-type emails ("not feeling well, WFH 2day") or situations that demand more immediate attention than might be attainable through email ("meeting is starting, where r u?") - but that's already happening today among non-teens in the workforce.

posted March 16, 2008

In reference to the research on teen preference, I think a relevant factor could be privacy. Their parents can sometimes screen their emails, but not always their text msgs (must have the physical phone to see the text). So perhaps the text preference is because it supports a higher feeling of privacy?

With regards to future trends, PDAs/iPhones/Smartphones are setting new precedents in the areas where cell phones and texting are currently relevant to teens. They are becoming so popular and easy to use that texting may be giving way to IMs and emails in the next 5 years (since they will be as easy to send/retrieve). However, IMing and texting technologies are pretty close in nature, so you may be stuck with the same questions.

I also feel that people are influenced greatly by the workforce and tend to adapt to it as they enter the pool. And today's youth are extremely adaptable when it comes to technology and trends in general. I can see them taking on whatever communication technologies are the status quo at the time they begin their careers.

I think we will see a continuance of email usage, but perhaps more from a PDA-type device, rather than always needing to be at a full computer.

posted March 16, 2008

The effectiveness of email for everyone is dropping, but it is still better than most other forms of communications.

I think that engaging in social media formats such as FaceBook and MySpace and others will become more and more important. Companies that engage now and build friends and fans will have a heads up on this trend.

posted March 16, 2008

Hi Suzanne,

I agree with you with the perspective that teens are using extensively and intensively instant messaging as a way of communicating in real-time with their pals no matter where they are, and in what time this communication is done. Nevertheless, this trend will not pose a menace for the extended using of e-mail in tomorrow’s corporate landscape.

Instant messaging satisfies the sense of urgency that youngsters have in being persistently communicated with their friends. The fact that teens are using so intensively different modalities of instant messaging does not pose a menace in the usage of e-mail in a corporate environment. E-mail does not admit any replacement from instant messaging communication due to the convergence of the following advantages that instant messages does not bring to the corporate environment:

+ Through e-mail communication is possible establish a communicational relationship from one person to many persons. It is advantageous in projects where many co-workers and managers must have updated information.

+ E-mail is the ideal way of sharing documents, files and information in workgroups that are working dispersedly around the globe.

+ The asynchronous character of e-mail communications offers the opportunity of differing conveniently the response to provide when convenient a most toughed perspective.

+ Repetitive communications by e-mail generate threads that facilitate the documentation of the communication’s flow along the lapse of time when the project is being executed or incident is being solved.

It is prefectly predictable for the next future the coexistence of corporate e-mail with instant messaging communications, where IM would be utilized in projects where real-time communication is encouraged as an alternative that does not create so disturbance to the workgroup as a noisy phone call.

I hope this helps you.
Octavio

posted March 16, 2008

I do not believe that business correspondence will change as a result of teens texting. Teens have a lot of growing up to do, they have to go to college, etc., and while the state of our educational system is in severe decline, I find it hard to believe that professors are going to pass students who cannot write a semi-intelligent statement.

E-mail will continue to be the medium of choice until a better system comes about. SMS messaging is nice to get something quick out, but you cannot write a business proposal in SMS format, etc.

If a company I wanted to do business with demanded that my company communicate through them via SMS, I suppose we'd find a way to do it, although it would be nearly impossible to keep a "paper trail" of the communications. At some point that might become so difficult and such a burden upon my company (I don't care if they don't want to keep records, but my company does) that we might have to pass on doing business with them.

Then again, if it were DuPont, General Motors, or someone similar, well, perhaps we would. :)

I believe that disinterest in email is a factor of their youth. They, like other generations of teens, will grow up and understand that the world will not change for them* and they will have to conform to society, as much as it disgusts them.

Cheers,
Jeff


*Marketers that gear their products to teens will always embrace the method to best reach their demographic.

posted March 16, 2008

I think it is already starting to happen. I have seen many people, the recent entrants into the corporate ranks writing emails like an SMS. And even many others (among the older ones) who are bitten by the blackberry bug do the same while using their phones to answer mails.

I think it is Darwinism at its best.

My grandfather used to write his mails, my father found something called a computer & a word processor but he still wrote his mails, I learnt how to write my mails, but started off with the XT & AT and moved on to a laptop and and now, a hand held device. It is still a bit premature to forecast what my son would do. But I am sure he would look at simplifying things further...

posted March 16, 2008

Suzanne -

I have yet to see a study on "declining use of email" that wasn't sponsored by a telco, SMS marketing company or antispam company. Reality is that once you enter the workforce and are no longer able to drop what you are doing to text someone, texting goes away. Also, teens thinking something is old isn't new. They associate nice cars, money, drinking, and independence with people that are older and even their parents.

Business correspondence will change when there is a compelling reason to change it - texting is VERY expensive for a global corporation ($.03 per message x millions of messages per day, where email is very cheap ($.00003 per message). Also you can't send attachments via txt. Instant messaging has it's place, but it's still not the same as email.

posted March 16, 2008

I think that business correspondence won't significantly change from where it is today - while today's teenagers (and to some extent, college-level students) do use SMS and IM systems far more extensively than the generations past, there is also a substantial use of e-mail from a very young age integrated in these teens' upbringing. It is my experience that e-mail usage still remains high, although certainly social networks like MySpace and Facebook remove some of the casual conversations that do exist. Many teens and students spend extensive amounts of time on their computers, utilizing the previously mentioned social networks, as well as instant messaging systems, so I don't necessarily agree with your point of more likely contact being made by phone than computer.

Once entering into the college environment, however, students are conditioned back into extensive use of e-mail for their "professional" work (i.e. their classwork and many extra-curricular involvements), and it is due to this that I don't see a significant amount of change on this front.

That said, of course, there could very well be a change in the casual relationships and networking options in the business world. Where in the past some deals and relationships may have been founded on the golf course, over meals, etc, it may be now that these new technologies which allow for networking to occur without necessarily meeting face-to-face could result in some different approaches being utilized. Does this mean that a deal could be negotiated between two strangers utilizing SMS? I sincerely hope not, but I could not categorically say that it wouldn't become at least more than an extremely rare occurance.

Cheers,

- Dan

posted March 16, 2008

I think communications are diversifying into the appropriate medium for each task. And the movement of generation Y into the workforce is only going to increase the rate that businesses adopt the alternative methods. However, email is far from dead, it's just going to be used only when needed:

- Rapid request and quick one-liners are going to IM when they aren't important enough to force someone to single-task.
- Longer thoughts, asynchronous messages, and attachments will remain on email.
- Group collaboration and knowledge sharing are moving onto web platforms (wiki's, blogs, rss feeds, etc).
- Real-time important request continue to go to the phone.
- Urgent alerting and discrete messages (e.g. in a meeting) go via SMS (the cost is too high for most other business usage).

When you look at today's youth, they simply don't have the need to send long thought out messages to individual friends as they do with parents or teachers. But this will change as they enter the workforce. Otherwise, they won't have much value to offer the workforce.

I think there's a happy medium where old and young have to meet with the communications methods they use. The move to unified messaging may also increase the rate that these technologies diversify and segregate.

posted March 16, 2008

Soon there will be no 'cell phones'...but only PDA's, which will enable both text & emails. I myself at times prefer a text mail to a client, prospect or colleague for 'instant grat' or because it's really necessary.

But a PDA carrying electronic-mail freak for ten years, I see more and more of my comrades, prospects and clients, especially in 'corporate' positions, being told 'no more cell phones or cells AND PDA's will be supported'...it's now heading towards ONE device and will continue in that way.

posted March 16, 2008

It is possible. But in predicting what they will do in the future you must also predict what is going to happen to email!

It seems likely that "text email" may now be in the position of potential decline with the advent of "video email." And the kids being into video may change their habits as that happens.

Of course we must also account for the fact that the devices they are using for text will also be going video.

As these devices go video and become more internet friendly it will be possible for them, first of all to use email conveniently on them as well as use video communication.

I think the actions in the industry make it perfectly clear we are on our way to the "Jetsons" (a 70's futuristic cartoon) where they communicated via video watches."

You can safely predict "text" is on the way out, and the hand held devices will become more internet friendly, and that the internet is likely to find additional new ways to enhance communication -- all of these factors will play on the decisions these kids make as they move to the workforce.

Finally, don't forget that "texting" my not be accepted as a way to communicate in many companies.

posted March 16, 2008

Communication in the workplace will absolutely respond to this, and I would say that we're seeing some of this now. At my agency, where the average age is about 26, you see many people working simultaneously from their inboxes and with some at least two IM services, such as AOL or gmal. In my inner circle, my friends and I mostly communicate via text, and we'll speak on the phone only if the situation calls for voice-to-voice communication. It's becoming rare to actually "talk" on the phone.

With the younger generation, you can believe they're even more comfortable multi-tasking, and using several communicaitons vehicles at once is just second nature to them. As these folks enter the workplace, they'll surely bring these habits with them. I would even go so far as to say the nature of "meetings" will change--rather than conference calls and so forth, we might see something like "instant meetings" via some sort of chat function.

posted March 16, 2008

Hi Suzanne,

Well for workplace e-mail still is the king and will continue with that status for long time to come. I found this interesting article 'Emails 'are the office timewaster'.

The statistics given here kind of prove my point. In fact, I am looking at ways were people reduce the number of ineffective e-mails that they sent and in turn spend that time interacting using channels like face to face meetings, calls and other more effective collaborative channels. Though more cheaper per transaction, effectiveness of e-mails are not increasing at the pace their quantity is!!

Regards

Vijeesh

Links:

• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/03/10/nemail110.x...

posted March 16, 2008

As always communicators will and should use the most appropriate medium for their communications.

Certainly the use of mobile devices are likely to the major communication device. Whether this will be sms, email or IM all all of these is for debate.

I suggest that the trend will continue into work.

posted March 16, 2008

I believe that younger people have adopted text messaging as their "preferred" method of communication, especially versus email, because, until now, they have believed it to be a private and protected form of communication. I don't believe text messaging will replace email, as these younger people begin to understand that text messaging is just as public, and soon to be an accessible form of communication within the public domain, as email is currently. Although I agree that younger people have "latched on" to text messaging through the universal creation of a "text language", I think younger people will become increasingly disenchanted as they experience less and less anonymity through this communication medium. I also believe that as the corporate world discovers how to reach these young people through their text messaging, it will diminish the value of this communication means to younger people, as they will be invaded by advertisements, etc. This is only my opinion.

posted March 16, 2008

Suzanne,

Great question and some good answers here. It's important that you're asking it.

Email may decline but it’s still largely useful for storage and lengthy conversations. People used to think phones would die off completely because of email. When I worked in my dad’s company at 12, I remember hearing that phones would be obsolete in ten years. I use one every day. It may not be a land line, since I only use my mobile or Skype; but voice communication is still vital to business. Email is now, and will be more so, used as a filter. It is another ring in the degrees that separate us, and it’s becoming the least credible because anyone has access to it.

I wrote the rest of my answer on my blog.

Christien

Links:

• http://www.christienlouviere.com/?p=100

posted March 16, 2008

Declining use of email?
When and where?
As I see teens growing I see them comfortably adjusting very well to the new circumstances even if that means having to restrict access from other talkative teens (phone, sms, chat, email) during rush hours and "re-educating" them!
I also notice that they use email to communicate with friends at late hours if they cannot chat or skype.
Text messages are just one of the resources available, if available.
They are more likely to be in contact with each other during the day by phone than computer, if they cannot do it personnally, that makes sense, but only when they are students or do not have responsibilities working.
Otherwise they know exactly what to do, when and how!
Will business correspondence change as a result? I do not think so, email is being re-discovered even for marketing presentations!
The point is not email or text, teens and the other: the point is segmentation and evolution!

posted March 16, 2008

I think teens will continue to text - it's just easier plus they are developing an entire new language. BC is in for a BIG change!

posted March 16, 2008

I don't think the prevalence of email will decline. Email and SMS are two different mediums.

SMS is a more rapid and shorter form of communication, and is supposed to reach the intended user in real time to be consumed immediately.

Email on the other hand lets you compose at ease, with the layout, language or content you deem appropriate. People commonly use the email to convey messages that can be replied at leisure (or atleast when convenient).

At a corporate level, emails are popular and will be the way because of its structure and the features that makes it more relevant than an IM or SMS.

posted March 16, 2008

I don't think sms will replace e-mail communications. It's all about time and location, really. Young people want to get in touch with their friends in order to set meeting times and places for a drink, party or whatever. For this type of communication sms is perfect. I don't really see it happen that sms will be used to order a truck load of goods.

However, I believe that mobile devices will continue to become more and more important. New applications on devices like the iPhone will increase the usage. Mobile e-mail will become widely available, so why use sms when you can have the real thing?

Best,

Peter.

posted March 16, 2008

Email will remain the primary means of communication in the business world unless we start using cell phones at work instead of desktops and laptops, which is very unlikely. Sending text messages to prospective customers works and is on the rise.

posted March 16, 2008

Kids have cell phones, and cell phones are inexpensive compared with computers. As well, they are easier to communicate with on the move--which kids usually are. But I don't think we are going to see emailing drop off any time soon. It's practically free, very fast and easier when you have a keyboard in front of you.
In business, I think email will continue to hold its position as primary for keeping records of comm. too, but business on-the-go will certainly increase with the use of texting, regardless of age. Unless kids are given the option in the work force to text vs. e-mail--I very much doubt they will shun this free technology/communication resource. Who knows what the future holds? Perhaps they will progress into telepathic communications...Ok, perhaps not. :)

posted March 16, 2008

What about the kids who send text messages to an e-mail address? Or browse the web on their phone? Or receive messages from an e-mail address? Mobile Texting is a subset of electronic mail, which would include browser-based e-mail, client-based e-mail, mobile e-mail AKA text messaging, and now Web 2.0 website e-mail (such as LI hes for instance) and the Blackberry phenomenon. The lines of distinction are blurred at best. Walls. MindTaffyLLC@yahoo.com

Links:

• http://www.MindTaffy.com
• http://www.Acrobat-3D.com
• http://www.WOWsignage.com

posted March 16, 2008

Absolutely- I text many peeps during the day - just to say hi - so curious as your opinion of why teens behavor would change because they go to work? I believe texting will evolve over the next ten years - it is really in the basic application as it was when it was invented - so the fact that mainly teens use this communication method - has not lent itself to advance developments because parents have screamed so loadly about costs - so now we have unlimited text - and with a 40 billion dollar market - gosh - I see texting doing incredible thngs in next 10 years - you won't even recognize it

posted March 16, 2008

I have no doubt that the use of email as we know it today will decline somewhat, due to competition from other communications channels. But I doubt it will go away completely anytime soon, if ever. If anything, I just expect to see the lines between the channels blur.

Just to use an example, if I send an email to 9195550123@wireless.att.net, I receive the message as an SMS on my phone. So is that an email or a text message? Does it matter? If I send a reply, do I really *care* if the underlying protocol is SMS or SMTP or a combination of both, or neither?

posted March 16, 2008

For those of us who remember mailing letters and sending faxes, we appreciate the speed and flexibility of email, however younger generations that have always had email are less impressed and more importantly associate it as an archaic technology used by stodgy parents.

Not too long ago, before web-based email clients became universal, and ubiquitous wireless and Blackberry-type devices allowed remote access, email was a service tied to your desktop. It implies serious work, sitting at your desk.

The main draw of SMS is that younger kids are not deskbound and they have always had cell phones. Their social relationships are defined by SMS and email will hold a certain stigma with them.

However, it is not realistic to extrapolate this to trend and assume that this generation will grow up and draft complex business communications with their thumbs.

However, as more casual email displaced formal business letters with highly structured formats typed by secretaries on letterhead, maybe SMS will replace the writing style of the next gen business communications. But this is just minor observation of the decline of grammatical skills.

Since currently email has grown into an inefficient time-waster, it deserves to be rethought by fresh perspectives. I think what will happen, the concept of desktop computing will be largely replaced by more intelligent portable devices. The next generation will not be typing formal proposals with texting abbreviations, but the recipient will be reading it on a handheld device.

posted March 16, 2008

Folks here have addressed the SMS trend... I'd add that most younger consumers use e-mail to establish accounts on social networks then use messaging within those social networks to communicate when they are on a computer.

Many younger people I've seen in focus groups can't fathom using real e-mail in their careers.

posted March 16, 2008

The answer is likely to be mixed. Both mediums have their purpose and I believe that text messaging (along with video messaging) will likely find their place along with email. Email will continue to be the single best method to get longer more complex communications between sender and receiver, but it is cumbersome and suffers from many problems that text messaging at this point does not, such as the level of spam that exists today. But I think its only a matter of time before advertising invades text messaging as well.

Email is great when you want to precede or follow a phone call or a face-to-face meeting. Text is great for its greater level of interactivity. Let's face it, email isn't really interactive in the way a conversation is.

I think the greater worry is will technical communication replace face to face communication. When two teens walk down the street side by side texting each other - as happens today - we have a real communication issue evolving its way into our society.

posted March 16, 2008