Just Gimme The Blog

Posted 11:24 AM by Melissa
In what ways are Email and Instant Messaging taking over the telephone?
As a means of communication, people are putting the telephone down and tapping away on a keyboard. Online communication is an extremely important mode of communication via the web that seems to be taking the place of the telephone. Telephones and fax machines have taken a back seat to the computer and its capabilities. Electronic mail and instant messaging are becoming more popular every day. Email and IM are more convenient and effective than the telephone which is why uses of both are important to ones business as well as personal life. But is one better than the other?
E-mail is sending a message to someone electronically. Email can be sent or received from anywhere to anywhere in the world, which has, to a certain extent, erased what we were using the telephone for years ago. Email lets you save addresses, send, receive and save messages and so much more. Instant messaging also allows for some of the same things, you can send and receive messages, save buddy names, design the IM to fit your preferences. Both of these tools allow you to edit the fonts and leave away messages or auto responses when someone sends you something.
Personally, email permits people to keep in touch with family and friends, near and far, that normally would cost too much using the telephone. Email has been adopted almost universally. Take for example, filling out an application, they not only ask you for you home address but also your email address. Adults and kids alike are using email, but this isn’t the
same for IM. IM is also used in the homes to keep in touch but for the most part by teenagers. Amanda Lenhart reported that for most online teens, instant message has not replaced the telephone as the principle communication tools with their friends. But a fifth of online teens...say that IM is the main way they deal with friends. A prime example is students in the computer lab here at school. The first thing we do is check our email, but we also sign on to our IM to chat with any available friends. So both email and IM are replacements for the telephones when they can’t be used.
Email is less formal which makes it easier. As pointed out by the Internet Marketing Consultants (IMC), if you’re placing a phone call, you have to worry about the time of day, but with email you can send a message and the receiver can pick it up at a time that is convenient for them. “Most electronic mail is used in an asynchronous fashion, where senders and recipients write and read independently of each other at different points in time.”(Palme 37). IM, on the other hand is used in a synchronous fashion, which is identical to a telephone conversation in that the reply is instantaneous. When sending an IM, once you send a message, the receiver sends a response instantly. This is an advantage of IM that isn’t always guaranteed by email. Yes, someone might respond to your email right away, but the back and forth of sending/receiving email can consume a lot of time, in cases like those IM is much more effective.
IM is a great tool to use at home to talk to family and friends but is it appropriate and being used in businesses. IM is slowly making its way into businesses. According to the Wall Street Journal’s article, "AOL Invites Businesses Onto Its 'Buddy List' " it seems that many Americans are using Instant Messaging in the workplace but not for work. Corporations fear that allowing Instant Messaging will allow confidential information to "get out". As a result, AOL has a committee dedicated to solving this concern. "America Online's new IM product keeps internal messages within the company instead of routing them through its own outside network". (Angwin) This new piece of software is called AIM Enterprise, which is an Instant Messenger specially, designed for both small and large businesses. Due to the initial lack of security, businesses are extremely reluctant to use IM, but can’t information being threatened by IM be released through email and the telephone?
As far as email in business, email is business. Basically email is a part of every business without question. Professionals at the University of Colorado see email as a very useful and “convenient tool …to communicate with their bosses” and each other. Email allows for things that the telephone does not, like sending software. The IMC view email, as a way to keep consumers informed about the market. Email also serves as a reminder, which can speed the process in which the work is done. In essence email is more effective than the telephone. Palme affirms this in his book Electronic Mail:
Only every fourth phone call reaches the intended person: there are three unsuccessful attempts for each successful call... The time cost for each successful phone call is 20 minutes, compared to 4.7 minutes for an electronic mail message. If the task can be completed with less than four messages, then electronic mail is certainly more efficient. (Palme 22).
Email is also much quicker than the telephone and has gained more use by businesses because of this. These benefits make email “more of a replacement for phoning than for postal mail.” (Palme 24). The "ability to use email for daily correspondence and as a point of initial contact with prospects is essential." (IMC) IM is quicker than the telephone but businesses continue to reject it.
Businesses are questioning if IM should stay. "At stake are a host of potential business uses for instant messaging that can reach beyond closed corporate walls--from customer service to instant purchasing and marketing." (Hu) As far as its connection with the telephone, "Instant messaging has become one of the most popular applications on the Internet and has been described as a communications system rivaling the telephone."(Hu) I think IM could be extremely useful if adopted by businesses. For example, if a boss needs to talk to his secretary he can just send her an IM, instead of having to pick up the telephone and dial a number to get her. It seems that if welcomed the service will definitely take the place of what the telephone was used for at one point. But even if accepted IM will rival the already successful system of Email.
In both the home and office IM allows you to complete multiple tasks. I can IM five or six people while typing a paper, and playing a game online. This really can’t be done with email. When writing an email, you are focused on completing that message. Using IM is similar to talking on the phone while doing many other tasks. But then again email, is favored more in the workplace and home, it seems more professional than IM. It’s hard to say if one is better than the other because they both serve their purpose. Nevertheless one thing’s for sure, they are better than the telephone. Email and IM have come a long way and soon enough they will both be into practice at home and work, so then what’s next: discussion boards?