It seems more and more people are realizing that email is a slum. The latest person to drink the Klue-Aid is the ever-insightful Stowe Boyd. In a weblog entry on spam and the future of email, he observes:
I find it fascinating that I am asked to speak on email since I hate it so much. Perhaps that is why I get asked to speak on these panels: I think we should all transition -- as fast as possible -- to IM-like closed networks, or other media where spam just can't (easily) intrude.
My prediction is that email (as we know it) will dwindle to insignificance, at least in the business context, just like postal mail has. The next generation of converged social tools -- presence-based real-time communication plus blog-based community-focused solutions -- will offer such great benefits that we will all transition to them just as fast as the vendors work out the kinks.
Two comments: