Debate raged around the Glide office yesterday after Shona circulated this article from the Daily Mail on http://bit.ly/DVxv2 (Email could be ‘extinct within a decade’ as teens turn to Twitter-style messaging).
‘What a load of rubbish’ came the first cries. ‘God help us!’ came the worried shrieks from those a bit longer in the tooth (no names will be given to protect the innocent). Sam then pitched in with a note on his kids preferring to use FB (Facebook) and BBM (BlackBerry Messaging) – apologies for expanding on the acronym but the latter had to be explained to one or two in here too!
Anyway, it got me thinking ‘what should I be taking from this research?’ Well, firstly, I don’t use email for personal communication. If I need to communicate with my friends online, it’s FB for me, then SMS then the good old fashioned dog and bone when you need a more lenthly chat (or gossip). All a little more instant than email.
What the article made me realise is that today’s teenager is tomorrows business leader so how will their technological adoptions affect business communications in the future? Will companies short message clients and prospect, teasing them with news snippets, inviting them to take part in news and discussion rather than pushing out information through email?
I suddenly realised that one day I’ll be the one who’s long in the tooth, having to keep up with the kids, their acronyms and appetite for more instant forms of communication.
‘God help us’ indeed!
Emma
The other side of the coin is the more complex (and confusing!) Google Wave – perhaps there will be a split between richer communication like Wave for complex subjects, and shorter media like twitter for chat?
I wonder how soon there will be a “killer app” that allows you to use all these services together. No-one has got this quite right yet, though Hootsuite springs to mind as one that’s trying hard.