TweetBeep: Email Still Reigns Supreme
By: Amy Dugdale | Posted: 2010-01-06First things first - happy 2010 to all our readers!
Without question, Twitter was a big topic of conversation and debate in 2009. Late last year, a WSJ writer published an article on "Why Email No Longer Rules." Over 200 folks commented on the article and many declared their continued allegiance to email. Osterman Research even rang in with survey results that revealed that 94% of respondents believe email is still their most valuable tool for getting work done. Add me to the hand raisers on that one - do you know how I monitor Twitter? I get TweetBeeps emailed to me - this method also ensures that I can go into my archive and search for old tweets in my Personal Archive folder whenever I want.
What's my point here? I'll cut to the chase. Sometimes curiosity gets the better of us around here and with 2009 coming to a close, we decided to do our own informal research on email vs. Twitter. Our research uncovered an interesting fact - guess what folks tweet about on a regular basis? Email. Yup, that's right. When you get right down to it, people have a relationship with email - sometimes they love it, sometimes they hate it, but at the very root - they still NEED it and tweet about it.
Without further ado, here are our picks for the top 10 email-related tweets last month:
1. zappify: first gmail is down, then they're taking down the bay bridge... what next?
2. cdbnyc: No, but seriously work email. I will kill you if you freeze. KILL YOU. I want to finish & go home, not sit here waiting for you to function.
3. GordonJewett: Got the nicest email I've ever received today. Should help offset the angry emails from clients 
4. invig: Deleted an email (to trash), tried to undo the delete (from trash), exchange makes the email disappear. Good work Microsoft.
5. FawnDoo: Ah, Outlook. You're showing me my inbox, I ask to see the sent items folder. It's only fair that you crash at my unreasonable demand.
6. nilicule: At least I've narrowed down the reason for my system crashes: pressing 'reply' in Outlook.
7. linuxchiq: How should i deal with email overload? One email at a time? Declare bankruptcy? I hate email. =(
8. Toberina: Do they know its Christmas? My email server clearly does as it just decided to stop working. Aaahh!
9. Lesilieburleigh: Ok, I went 4 days without email and thought it was liberating. Today my server is down and I am having a panic attack!
10. VeronicaLudwig: Is gmail down for anyone else or do they just hate me again today?
Think Twice Before You Delete That Email…
By: Joe Diamond | Posted: 2009-05-19If you follow Andrea Coombes' advice in her recent Wall Street Journal write-up, you may find yourself in some hot water the next time you search your inbox for an email. She suggests that, "If you can deal with the email in two minutes or less, do it and delete it." My question is this - what happens when, for whatever reason, you need to call upon that message again and it's not there? What if that particular thread of communication becomes relevant to pending litigation and it's gone forever? You may want to keep these questions in mind, especially if you're not familiar with your office's backup practices.
As Coombes' article notes, it's no secret that as the Internet continues to mature, we're going to be bombarded with more information than ever before. According to the 2003 report "How Much Information?", 63 percent of the U.S. work force receives 1.6 gigabytes of information on average every day through emails, reports, blogs, text messages and more. As dated as this report is, it's safe to assume that number has doubled in the past six years.
So, how are we going to handle the influx of information in our digital mailboxes?
Take our CEO Nick Mehta for example. He subscribes to Coombes' advice and is a founding member of the "respond, file, or delete it" club, but there's a huge caveat. He deletes liberally because all of his emails are being archived. While his inbox remains pristine, his deleted messages are just a click away in his personal archive folder.
The bottom line is that there are tools out there that can help manage the increased load of information. Don't go it alone and most importantly, don't blindly delete emails that are seemingly inconsequential today. That "2-minute and done" message may be the one that saves you from a lawsuit down the road.
