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Facebook, Twitter Will Kill Email ... Maybe

Social networking sites have their place, but so does predecessor

By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff

Posted Oct 12, 2009 3:59 PM CDT

(Newser) – Email’s had a good run, but its day is done, according to Jessica Vascellaro of the Wall Street Journal. Email is an outdated form of communication, better suited to a time when we logged online and off, she argues. Now that we’re always connected, Twitter and Facebook are faster—and more fun. And, not coincidentally, they’re growing faster, according to the latest Nielsen data.

But Kit Eaton of Fast Company thinks that’s crazy talk. E-mail may not be as fun, fast, or flashy, but it’s well adapted to its task. You can’t embed files in a tweet, and would you trust Facebook, “with its odd history of rights control,” to handle a corporate document? Email is often informal, true, but it’s much more professional than tweeting your boss.

In this June 20, 2009 file photo, customers surf the Internet at an Internet cafe in Beijing, China.
In this June 20, 2009 file photo, customers surf the Internet at an Internet cafe in Beijing, China.   (AP Photo/Greg Baker, File)
People surf the web at an Internet cafe in Shenyang in northeast China's Liaoning province, March 6, 2008.
People surf the web at an Internet cafe in Shenyang in northeast China's Liaoning province, March 6, 2008.   (AP Photo/File)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 7 comments
Yourself
Oct 13, 2009 4:22 AM CDT
please explain to me how i'll twitter a business response back to my clients? let alone facebook it to them?? this is as reliable a "story" as the idea that videos killed the radio stars...
brawne
Oct 13, 2009 2:53 AM CDT
Yes Brad. I think that the pendulum should swing the other way. Long, handwritten letters with sealed wax ring indentures and slow mail and no one reads them but you and your intended. When I get my mail and it is all crap and one thing from the mammogram lab, there is nothing better than a real letter. Try it. Instant communication is about as fulfilling as instant coffee.
brawne
Oct 13, 2009 2:44 AM CDT
Yeah. Way wrong. I still write letters. And thousand word emails to my bestest friends. And they send huge ones back. Facebook? And have every ass from thirty years ago look your ass up? Twitter? I'd rather rip out my frontal lobe before accepting that human intrigue and interaction is a couple of characters tossed on the platform of human indifference.

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