Life's Too Short for So Much E-Mail(bits.blogs.nytimes.com)
bits.blogs.nytimes.com
Life's Too Short for So Much E-Mail
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/08/life’s-too-short-for-so-much-e-mail/
1 comments
I think this distinction between personal and impersonal emails is a good one. The frustration (for me at least) comes in when email isn't relevant, when it's redundant, or when it's unnecessary. My guess is that the problem isn't actually email itself - but it's instead the systems that keep it impersonal.
To paraphrase a blog entry I recently posted (http://blog.klaviyo.com/2012/06/18/making-emails-better-pers...), we need better informed, more intelligent systems and thought to drive what emails are sent/received. For instance:
- There's no reason a company should email me about a feature I already use or a product I already buy. They know this - they just haven't bothered to integrate their systems.
- There's no reason I should have to send 10 emails to schedule a meeting where/when everyone can make it. Our calendars should be able to make this easy and painless.
- There's no reason I should get 4 separate emails from friends containing the same article. Can't I get one message saying four people sent you this?
As Seth Godin said in his Ted talk, something's broken. All of these examples I cite can be solved - and there's a ton more just like them.
To paraphrase a blog entry I recently posted (http://blog.klaviyo.com/2012/06/18/making-emails-better-pers...), we need better informed, more intelligent systems and thought to drive what emails are sent/received. For instance:
- There's no reason a company should email me about a feature I already use or a product I already buy. They know this - they just haven't bothered to integrate their systems.
- There's no reason I should have to send 10 emails to schedule a meeting where/when everyone can make it. Our calendars should be able to make this easy and painless.
- There's no reason I should get 4 separate emails from friends containing the same article. Can't I get one message saying four people sent you this?
As Seth Godin said in his Ted talk, something's broken. All of these examples I cite can be solved - and there's a ton more just like them.
What Nick Bilton is really saying is not that email isn't good. But that the people that are sending him email aren't important enough to reply to. I'm sure he's not going to fail to reply to an email or (change the method of communications) with Arthur Sulzberger (Times publisher) or Larry Ellison.
I'm sure if he looses his job at the NY Times, and has to find a job, email (and the people that write to him) will take on a new importance.
While I don't get 100 important emails per day I do (as many people) get plenty of emails and I almost always respond to any that are personal (and not spam or sales pitches to which replies are optional) to the best of my ability as quickly as possible. I'm glad I get emails.
Nick (with all the out of work journalists) sounds a little like the celebrity who is tired of being hounded by paparazzi. Or the pretty girl who doesn't like all the attention from guys (see what Cybil Shepard has to say about that now.)
Email still has a place in communications and serious business and many other things as a communication medium. It's different if you are a teenager of course.