The Impact Of Email On Communication

“Email me…”

It’s easy to say and it’s easy to do!

For better or worse, email has revolutionized the nature of business and personal communication around the world. No longer is it necessary to place a long distance phone call, meet face to face, or write a letter to initiate a conversation. With email you simply press a button and your message can be sent to any number of people anywhere in the world.

If it seems like everyone has email, that’s probably because almost everyone does! According to the UCLA Internet report, 72 percent of Americans use the Internet and 88 percent of internet users use email.  In business, these percentages are for all practical purposes 100 percent. I knew for sure that email had penetrated the last level of resistance when my eighty-five year old mother-in-law bought a laptop and started using email and IM to communicate with her extended family.

In its most recent report, IDC [i] estimates that there will be 97 billion emails sent in 2010. This is up significantly from the 30 billion emails sent just a few years ago in 2004. While it seems like email has replaced standard postal mail, the US Post Office still delivered 212 billion pieces of mail in 2007, although I suspect that few of these pieces of mail were letters.

Of course, like most things in life, email has the potential to be very beneficial and useful and, at the same time, it has the potential for danger and harm. These web pages are dedicated to helping you maximize the opportunities of email and minimize the dangers.