[RobIsIT]

This article sounds a little like a plug for Return Path.

Fred does however conclude with an interesting observation that made me think:

"I do think the rise of alternative notification channels; sms, mobile push notifications, direct messages on twitter, facebook messaging, etc are going to move some of this kind of thing off of email over time."

E-mail is powerful. Groupon proved it to us again with their staggering valuation and penetrating marketing.

However, I think that e-mail is only powerful because it is the only reliable platform over which we have to communicate. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc all have messaging systems, but none of them have been able to push through their own glass ceilings to compete with e-mail as a platform over which to distribute messages.

Trust, market penetration, usability, usage advantage... however you want to justify it, e-mail is "social media's secret weapon" only because social media hasn't figured out how to become more important.

E-mail isn't a secret weapon, it's the only platform available. Make a new one.

[spitfire]

Why? What is broken about email? It pops up instantly with imap, it's available to everyone and is very standardized.

facebook, twitter and linkedin are poor copies or niche tools. email is simple and flexible. You can write love letters or close serious business deals with it.

email, is here to stay because it is the simplest most flexible tool.

[RobIsIT]

This is exactly my point. We've seen several iterations of online marketing. Short of spam, e-mail has been such a powerful messaging platform that it hasn't changed - and hasn't needed to.

I don't think that e-mail is perfect. I think that there is something better. I don't know what it is and neither do the current batch of social network powerhouses. It's out there though - email conversion rates are far too low for it to be the end solution :)