Facebook Eats Away at Email Usage on Today's Web
According to recent analysis by the Online Publishers Association (OPA), more people than ever are spending their time online visiting content sites which provide news, information, and entertainment. Despite the emergence of social networks, and in particular the rapid growth of Facebook, it's content sites which engage web surfers' attention the most these days - time spent on these sites is up 88% from only five years ago. That's not to say social networking community sites haven't grown too, it's just that their growth hasn't come at the expense of content. Instead, people are using traditional communication sites and services (think webmail, IM, and discussion groups) less and less and choosing to use Facebook and other social networks instead.
Email and IM Decline Thanks to Social Networks
In 2003, people spent 46% of their time online using sites which fall into the "communications" category - that is, sites whose core capabilities are email and instant messaging. By 2009, that usage dropped to 27% or a 41% decline in overall use.
Although "community" sites like Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn weren't measured back in 2003 when the first analysis was performed, OPA introduced the new category in 2008 at which point they were able to see the impact the social networks had on the habits of online users. While obviously it's not just Facebook which is to blame for the declining use of email and IM, there's no doubt that the world's largest social network plays a more significant role than the others here.
Why Social Networks are Replacing Email
As to why social networking sites have led to declining use of other communication tools, Pam Horan, president of the OPA, speculates that it's because people can conduct the same activities on the social networks as they did before via email, IM, and other communication properties, but now they can do so more efficiently.
While we would argue that in the business world, emailing is still an essential, "can't live without it" tool, it's not so far-fetched to say that Facebook and the like have changed mainstream users' online behavior. Want to share a funny video? Post it to your profile. Have new pictures from your vacation? Upload them to an online album. These are precisely the sorts of online activities that only a few years ago took place primarily via email messages. Social networking has undoubtedly changed that.
And Gen Y Hates Email, Right?
Then there are the constant news stories about how the younger generations, specifically Generation Y and Z, don't use email. "Email is unfashionable and outdated," claims a recent ZDNet headline pointing to a recent story about Boston College's decision to stop handing out email addresses to incoming students. These types of stories are barely even news anymore as the common perception is that communication among these younger groups takes place via social networks (and, of course, text messaging).
Oddly enough, the belief that Gen Y hates email seems to be somewhat contradicted by the late-breaking news that, out of all other demographic groups, it's Gen Y which is most likely to opt-in for email marketing messages. Still that doesn't show that email is their preferred medium, only that they're more open to using it for less-than-personal types of communication. That trend makes sense as they probably don't even think of email as the place to connect with friends and family - that's what social networks are for - so why not use it for collecting coupons instead?
Other Findings
OPA's research also revealed that visits to content sites have increased over the past five years - up 24% since 2003. Time spent on these sites has increased dramatically, too, with an 88% increase since 2003. Today, Internet users spend an average of 6:58 hours on content sites per month. Search and Commerce round out the categories OPA studied with search seeing an increase from 3% to 5% and commerce seeing a slight decline from 16% to 13%.
OPA's Internet Activity Index (IAI), as the research is called, is conducted by Nielsen/NetRatings. It tracks usage across all the above mentioned categories but excludes .gov and .edu domains as well as adult-oriented sites.
An interesting side note here is that the IAI shows the time spent using communications sites is 4:54 hours per month while community sites are at 3:01 hours. That actually contradicts Nielsen's earlier findings from March of this year which claimed that social networks and blogs were now more popular than email based on time spent. This discrepancy in data means we're taking these latest findings and those that came before it with the proverbial grain of salt and you should too. However, what we can take away from both reports is that, numbers aside, email is definitely being impacted by the social networking trend.
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The most unfortunate aspect of course is that those conversations are locked up behind a wall. Facebook needs a good dose of something like http://www.dataliberation.org/ Or, better yet, Facebook should use open standards for its messaging.
Posted by: LogEx
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September 17, 2009 8:33 AM
This is 100% true. Most of my friends and colleagues now message me through Facebook as opposed to e-mailing me. Resistance is futile. Facebook is taking over.
This has been long in the making. I noticed gen Y's aversion to email a few years ago when I started a company and hired kids fresh out of college to do development. I was on email. They were on IM and facebook. We were talking past each other.
Communication patterns in younger generations are even more striking. These kids are online most of their waking hours. They can plan, practice for, and execute a massively multiplayer gaming session spanning countries and time zones on Xbox Live without sending a single email message.
There is a lot that we Outlook and GoToMeeting addicted adults can learn from them. I learn every day.
The funny thing is how many people take Facebook with them all day, via mobile.
Hi,
We are aggregating many of the online communication services and organising it in a better way. Launching soon a Facebook app as well which would allow FB users to have all their email FB. What do you think of that?
Well, I still use my email more than Facebook, or IM, and I belong to Gen Y. I guess that makes me one of the few...
I use FB for personal messages and email for business, although FB is also used to chat to clients in real time. Makes business a little more personal.
LinkedIn is best used as a type of corporate social networking. It's a living resume and a place where a professional can compile his or her job experience and achievements, and showcase written recommendations. Numerous professional groups on a wide variety of topics exist to get feedback from others in the field, and videos, pictures and even Amazon.com recommendations can be uploaded and shared.
I also use to go for facebook lot of times instead it is not worthless to use instead the email account.
Thanks for posting.
Social networks are only replacing some aspects of email. Now instead of getting 1000 lame forwards a day, you get 1000 lame facebook posts a day. Email is still being used for what it should be, actual communication. Read the article you linked to about Boston College. They didn't stop passing out email accounts because students weren't using email. The problem was that they already had an email and didn't want another one.
Email isn't going away, it's just not being used for 'social' activities as much as it used to be.
Love this post! Well written and easy to read, perfect for all of us social media induced ADHD sufferers. :-)
This is always a hot topic in my workshops. I believe another reason social networking sites have the advantage is because they already have a filter on them. We have already chosen our "friends" or "Connections" - ie the ones whom we actually care to exchange info with...limits the spam that has overtaken email.
Email interrupts you but you seek social networks voluntarily. I believe that's a key behavioral difference that explains why Y gen users don't like to be committed to email.
Thanks for the thought-provoking post. I agree with Bob's comment that SocNet sites are only replacing some aspects of email, that it's mainly eating away at email usage for personal communication. Business communication is still vastly email. This may all shift again when Google Wave comes along.
Email is an old technology that needs to be rethought in order to be efficient in today's world. It still serves its purpose in business, but other communication forms have surpassed it. If email was invented today, it would look much different than it does now.
Zach, see Google Wave.
Well, what about you tube? Where does it come, and more recently twitter? You tube is neither networking nor content. But it is exploding. The majormainstream would shift towards sharing. Sharing of files, data, and video. If you take networking usage as some kind of sharing then take it that way.
Did anyone remember you need an e-mail account as an id to sign in to facebook. Social networking may be replacing the functionality of e-mail to some extent, but it is a far cry from replacing e-mail.
It may just decrease the extent to which it is used, but every inbox message goes to your - guess what - email account!