Microsoft: Email use continues to rise

Market research company MarketTools surveyed 1,268 professionals and students over the age of 18 about their use of communication channels such as email, social media, mobile and instant messaging. .

They found that, while social media and mobile messaging use is on the increase, email use increased the most.

Almost half (45%) of those surveyed said that their use of email had increased in the past year while 51% said it had remained the same. Very few (4%) said their email use had decreased over the last twelve months.

Meanwhile, use of social media for communication purposes, including Facebook and Twitter, increased among 28% of respondents and remained the same for 65% while 10% had decreased their use of it.

Just 14% of respondents have increased their use of instant messaging (IM) over the last year, less than the number who have increased phone (16%) or face-to-face communication (15%).

Email will continue to hold its own as a communication tool in the coming years. MarketTools' research found that over the next five years 96% of respondents expect their email use at work to increase (45%) or stay the same (51%), and almost the same number, 91%, expect their home email use to rise (36%) or remain the same (55%).

"Just as email didn't kill the telephone and video didn't kill the radio, newer messaging tools won't kill email," said Microsoft's Office corporate vice president Takeshi Numoto.

"In fact, the survey tells us that the overall volume of communication is increasing as a whole."

Tags: email, email research, email usage, instant messaging, mobile messaging, social media