USA Today recently had an article on whether Americans preferred to text or use e-mail as a form of communication. The article cites unnamed surveys, and conducted their own study, that say younger people (those under 30) prefer texting, while older people prefer e-mail as their method of communication.
The similarities: both involve typing letters, numbers, and symbols from a keyboard onto an electronic screen to be sent to the screen of someone else. Both require very little energy use or cost to the server in terms of data transfer. Both can be done quickly, but only if you don’t lose the connection (which happens a lot, especially with T-mobile).
So what makes them different? E-mail is considered more formal, because one is taking the time to actually write out a message (when was the last time someone send out an e-mail that just said ‘k’ or ‘lol’ or ‘cool’?), whereas texting can be done very quickly and on the go. Also, e-mail requires one to be logged into an internet server somewhere. So even if you’re travelling and you can get internet service through your phone, you’ll have to log-in to do it-making the process slower, and potentially putting yourself at risk for phishers to hack in if your phone’s internet connection is unsecure for any reason.
That said, e-mail allows individuals to send more information than texts usually can, such as links to Youtube videos and better quality photos. It’s much easier to send word documents, excel spreadsheets, and power points to yourself or others via e-mail, (texting it is impossible at this point unless you have an iPad, and even then). Plus, if I have to wait to be on the internet to use e-mail, that’s one less opportunity to send a message while I drive (promoting safe driving).
Finally, I often am in contact with people on a professional level. I feel very uncomfortable sending out texts to those people, especially if I don’t know the person well. I’ve never been uncomfortable sending out an e-mail, even to unfamiliar people. For that reason, even more-so than the other two, I personally prefer e-mailing people as to texting.
What do you think? Do you prefer texting to e-mail? Share your thoughts on this subject.
In PRobecast episode #111, Topazers Evan Siff, Renatta Siewert and Justin Martell join me in talking about a study on the digital media consumption of children, the power of mom bloggers and LinkedIn’s new aggregator service.
Study finds children increasingly consuming digital media – According to recent studies by non-profits Joan Ganz Cooney center and Sesame Workshop, young children are increasingly consuming digital media, and most of the time is more than one type at once. While TV trumps internet usage, the study found that 60 percent of children under the age of three watch videos online. Do you think the increasing use of digital media is a good or bad thing for children?
The power of the mompreneur – More than ever, the power of women is being shown through social media and companies trying to work with social media moms to increase awareness of their brands through their channels. Marketers have started working with these moms to promote their campaigns, however not in an overt way – they’re working to promote a two way conversation to get people thinking by asking questions. How can more brands push their campaigns this way?
LinkedIn’s new news service – On Thursday, LinkedIn announced a new news aggregator service called LinkedIn Today. This new service will aggregate headlines based on what people in a user’s professional network and industry are sharing. Users are also able to search for particular key words to see what people are sharing. This service will go head to head with Google News or Yahoo News. Do you think this new service will get people going to LinkedIn more often?
Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – meaning any aspects of PR could be the reasoning behind the pick. Is it the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.
This week, mompreneur’s win! Their increasing influence among consumers and brands finally figuring out how to harness their relationships to make campaigns successful is the reasoning behind this week’s pick.
Another big group this week! In PRobecast episode #107, Topazers Joanna DiTrapano, Evan Siff, Renatta Siewert and Justin Martell join me in talking about our favorite Super Bowl ads, Facebook trademarking “face,” and mobile applications.
You’re favorite Super Bowl ad- Whether or not you’re a football fan, you are probably watching the Super Bowl – if not for the actual football part of it, for the commercials. It’s time for Topaz to talk about our favorite – or least favorite ads from Sunday’s big game.
Facebook wants to trademark “face”- Facebook is trying to trademark the work “Face” in the United States in regards to online social networking and related activities. They are also trying to trademark the word “book” in the EU and – according to TechCrunch – have already started some duels with companies trying to use the work “book,” such as Lamebook and Teachbook. Is this going too far?
Privacy Concerns [POLL] - A recent USA Today/Gallop Poll found that just over 50 percent of Google and Facebook users are concerned about privacy. However, as the article goes on to discuss, technologists and privacy experts are saying that these results show the lack of knowledge people have in regards to the rising risks on the Internet. Are people just turning a blind eye, or do they need to get “in the know” when it comes to internet security and the risks out there?
iPhone app for confession – The U.S. Catholic Church recently OKed an iPhone application to help people with confession. The application costs $1.99 and can give users a custom examination of their conscience. Users can even add sins to the app that are not listed. However, this does not cancel out actually going to confession – you must still confess in person.
Future of Mobile Apps - This week’s Mobile Monday in New York brought up some interesting trends/predictions about mobile applications with one chief executive even saying that these mobile apps will soon die out in favor of simple mobile websites. Others predicted that 2011 will see a rise in mobile transactions and that privacy will become a bigger issue. Either way, bringing several entrepreneurs to the table will induce a very engaging and interesting conversation.
Now it’s time for the PRobecast PR Power Ranking – which is when we go around the room and pick the story that we think ranks the highest PR-wise – meaning any aspects of PR could be the reasoning behind the pick. Is it the story itself, good data that was used, what’s getting the most pickup, was it a good PR move the company made, etc.
The Catholic Church’s new iPhone app won this week’s PR Power Ranking. They’re keeping up with the times by enticing a younger audience to engage with them. It’s a smart business move as well – $1.99 adds up and it’s getting a lot of downloads!
