In an interesting column at StandardNet, the question is raised over whether or not FaceBook messages will replace standard email.
From a personal perspective, I find myself in a sort of muted agreement – almost everyone I correspond with is on FaceBook, and it’s quite easy to compose a message and get them all added in to the recipient list. Everyone can follow in on the thread, and let’s face it – I think the majority of people I know are checking their FaceBooks MORE than their traditional email accounts!
From a business perspective, I can’t see this occurring in the very near future, if at all. I absolutely agree that more and more businesses are using FaceBook to market themselves in a growing social media movement, but traditional communication via email will remain so, simply for the fact that business people don’t, as a habit, rush out and add new clients to their FaceBook friends list.
On another level, not every business is keen on social media; I know plenty of people who find sites like FB, MySpace, Twitter, etc. blocked by their firewalls at work. Those correspondents wouldn’t be on FaceBook during business hours, as a result it wouldn’t make sense to send them a business-related message that they couldn’t get to during “normal business hours”.
(Of course, “normal business hours” is becoming a thing of the past in the era of the 24×7 Internet, but that’s another blog for another time).
What say you – would you be more inclined to conduct business via FB messages, wall posts, or perhaps Tweets, vs. doing so in a “traditional” email format?
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