E-mail

What is E-mail?

E-mail is the commonly used, short name for electronic mail. E-mail offers the ability for authors to send messages digitally to one or more recipients instantly in different locations. The use of e-mail is similar to that of regular mail, however it is sent in a different format. E-mails consist of three basic parts, the header, the subject, and the body. The header has all of the sending information including all of the intended recipients addresses. The subject can be any relevant information which the author chooses to name the message. Finally, the body is the main area of text which is the message intended for the recipient.

Where did it come from?

Over time, electronic mail has evolved from a simple file directory system where the message could be made available within the intended recipient’s directory to a complex system that can now take on far more complex functions and greater usability. Electronic mail has grown exponentially with the growth of the internet and the need for instant information transfer.

Early electronic mail systems were vary basic file sharing systems that could only leave messages from one user to another on the same computer. One of the first examples of this type of system was developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) around 1965 and it was called MAILBOX. These type of systems predated ARPANET and without the creation of a network of computers e-mail could only connect users accessing the same computer. With the invention of computers which could now communicate through a complex network (ARPANET), e-mail took on new complexity needing recipient and author addresses. Ray Tomlinson developed a simple solution to this problem in 1972, coining the @ symbol on the computer keyboard as a means for designating electronic addresses. This set a standard for users to follow, name-of-the-user@name-of-the-computer, and is the reason why many people consider Ray Tomlinson the creator of electronic mail.

“The keyboards were about 10 feet apart, I could wheel my chair from one to the other and type a message on one, and then go to the other, and then see what I had tried to send.”

Ray Tomlinson

How has it evolved?

When e-mail was introduced to ARPANET it revolutionized the way that people used the network and its purpose. E-mail began as a simple text transferring system that has evolved over the years by incorporating basic functions which made the user experience easier and more useful. One of the first functions which changed the user experience was an e-mail organization program created by John Vital in 1975. This combined with a multi-folder e-mail system would quickly encourage commercial packages to be developed and distributed and helped the evolution of ARPANET into the Internet. The evolution of e-mail from this point moved swiftly, with countless inventors and different developments quickly expanding the number and types of users.

“any single development is stepping on the heels of the previous one and is so closely followed by the next that most advances are obscured. I think that few individuals will be remembered.”

Ray Tomlinson

These systems became much more popular with the expanding personal computer market and the growth of computer users. Another invention which benefited the growth of e-mail use, specifically in countries where internet was extremely expensive, was programs which allow users to read and prepare e-mails offline. This allows users who pay for internet use based on time to prepare messages ahead of time and send them much more efficiently to save money. This could also provide a way for program designers to create a systems which were much more friendly to the user, being that they would be dependent on the ability of the computer rather than that of the network connection.

Fact: In 1976 Queen Elizabeth became the first head of state to send and e-mail on the ARPANET.

In 1988 e-mail was given a new identity by a program called Eudora created by Steve Dorner. This program was designed as a new graphic interface to further improve the e-mail user experience and was successful, revealing the importance of a well designed interface. Shortly after in 1989 Eudora was over shadowed by a program called Lotus Notes which sold over 35,000 copies just in the first year. Despite the growing popularity and the success of these programs, in 1996 several companies began release 100% free internet e-mail which could be used anywhere. One of these programs was Hotmail which is still highly used to this day and has been bought by Microsoft for 400 million dollars.

Where is it now?

Electronic mail has become an extremely common and integral part of today’s society. E-mail users have grown to encompass just over one out of every five people in the world totalling about 1.9 million people world wide. It has also been estimated that these 1.9 million people own over 2.9 million actual e-mail accounts which can now transfer several Gigabytes of information in one e-mail and account for hundreds of billions of messages every day. E-mail has become not only an instant personal message system but an integral part of international business and marketing.

What is the future?

It is difficult to determine the future of personal e-mail systems, however it does have some very difficult competitors who are just emerging. Social media and other related sites offer users with a method to not only send personal messages, but to leave and share personal information and connect with friends and family. Many of these sites have message capabilities while also offering other unique functions and activities unmatched by e-mail. Social media also offers a unique marketing tool that e-mail cannot compete with. Companies could potentially be provided with an ability to highly target potential customers based on personal information acquired through social media profiles. The only leg up that e-mail has is that e-mail marketing is much easier to guarantee commitment from a customer because users are often required to sign up for marketing e-mails, revealing an existing interest in the product. On the other hand, this leaves the decision up to the user whether or not to participate in marketing, whereas social media gives the marketing power to the companies.

An interesting solution to this growing conflict could be the combination of the two systems, email and social media. This combination could provide a unique integration of the two, providing the user with a “one stop” program that offers users with the best of both worlds. There are already many instances of companies creating social media profiles to direct users to their e-mail campaigns. Why is there no way to combine both and skip the extra step?

http://www.onlinemarketingseo.com/social_media_marketing.html

The good news for e-mail is that it is surviving the expansion of the internet to other devices such as mobile phones. For the time being e-mail is far to integral in our daily lives to completely disappear in an instant, but the world is ever changing and the pace of society is speeding up exponentially.

Sources:

http://www.nethistory.info/History%20of%20the%20Internet/email.html

http://inventors.about.com/od/estartinventions/a/email.htm

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2002/mar/13/internetnews

http://email.about.com/od/emailtrivia/f/how_many_email.htm

http://www.internet-guide.co.uk/email.html

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/38456

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120364591