Social networks not a threat to email

Heavy users of social networks actually spend more time emailing than those that don't participate as much in social networking, found Nielsen.

"It actually appears that social media use makes people consume email more, not less, as we had originally assumed - particularly for the highest social media users," said Jon Gibs, VP, Media Analytics at Nielsen.

But why would social networking fanatics need to use email more than others? One answer may lie in the notification system most social networks use. As a Facebook user, my inbox is often dominated by notifications telling me of a new photo upload, new comment or some such activity.

Alternatively, it may be that social networkers are just more social or that some content they want to share is sent by email as it is just too risqué to broadcast to an entire network of friends, especially with more and more family groups joining to keep in touch.

Whatever the reason, social networks aren't going to kill off email any day soon.

Tags: email, research, social network, socnets