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Is e-mail, perceived as archaic and prone to spams, on its way out as net users prefer social media? Sangeetha Devi Dundoo reports

Barely a day after the release of 3 Idiots, the positive reviews were out. Only a few of them were from reviewers in the print/audio-visual and new media, analysing the pros and cons of being Rancho. Quite a bit of word-of-mouth publicity came from tweets, status messages on messengers, and scraps on Orkut and Facebook. Without much ado, thousands of Gtalk and MSN Messenger users changed their status message to ‘Aal izz well with 3 Idiots'; ‘3 Idiots is a joy ride' or simply ‘Aal izz well'. Within no time, web users had also taken the quiz, ‘Find out which 3 Idiots character are you?', and posted the result for their friends to see.

Quick communication through social networking sites has replaced the need to e-mail for many, forcing web analysts to think if e-mails would become extinct in a few years..

This may sound far fetched, but sample this: Several studies in the West predict the decline and eventual extinction of e-mails in the next decade. E-mails are considered antiquated, prone to spams and fit for the older age group.

K. Amrita, pursuing her masters in computer science, cringes at the thought of using e-mails. “I use mails only to send out resumes and other official reasons. If I have to mail someone, I put it off till a later day. I prefer Twitter, chats and Facebook to keep it simpler, faster and reach out to all my friends in a few seconds.

I don't have to think of sourcing the right e-mail id and right way of addressing the recipient,” she says. E-mail, which edged out snail mail for sheer convenience and faster communication, is beginning to be perceived as complex. Diyanat Ali, IT manager, Geodesic Ltd, sticks to e-mails for official communication and whenever attachments need to be sent. At other times, he favours social sites. “Social media channels reduce the complexity of e-mails. The messages are short and you reach more people,” he reasons. While he feels that the usage of e-mails will decline in the next decade, he doesn't see it becoming obsolete. “Social media will not kill email just like VOIP didn't kill the telephone,” he argues.

Preference of social media over e-mails changes according to the age group and the nature of communication.

You may tweet or have status messages announcing your verdict on 3 Idiots but for official or personal communication, you still turn to good old e-mails. Then, there are still those who prefer one-to-one communication that e-mail facilitates. Gayathri Santosh, a homemaker in her early 30s, discovered the joy of connecting with her school and college buddies through Facebook but is wary of the privacy it ensures. “It's fun to upload photographs, receive and send instant comments and get to know what your friends are up to. Yet, I think e-mails ensure some privacy. You cannot make all your conversations public,” she says.

Vaneeta Bhattacharyya, who facilitates body-centric workshops, chooses from mails and chats according to the nature of the communication and feels, “E-mails may take some more effort but that's where the willingness to make that effort comes in. You don't always seek instant gratification (like in social media).”