I was scanning over the latest news on Mashable.com and came across an article that really got me thinking. The article titled,What Do You Check First: Email or Facebook?, was based on a study from ExactTarget, email and social media marketing company located in Indianapolis, IN. The article gave some interesting insight into why people choose to either check their Facebook or Email first. The article began with this line “Where you start your digital day says a lot about you…” This first line is what got the wheels in my head turning. Essentially logging on has become a necessity in starting the day Where do we go first? Twitter, Facebook, Email?
The underlying question here is how do we prioritize? Furthermore, how do we prioritize the time spent on social media sites? For instance, if our morning begins with Facebook… what does that say about us? Are we fixated on our friends or updating our profiles? Is this our priority? I’m just wondering if priorities have taken a shift since the explosion of social media. Are we afraid of what will happen if we don’t check our sites immediately every morning?
This isn’t necessarily what’s so intriguing to me. It’s the fact that social media has now become such an integrated part of our morning routine. Much like brushing your teeth or eating breakfast would be. It is no longer an obsession or an addiction, it’s a healthy habit. Or is it?
Here’s one stat from the study that stood out to me
More than 50% of U.S. online consumers check their email before visiting other websites when they start the day.
Now the study was focused on brand interaction online and so forth….However, what does this statistic also show? That we are logging on in preparation for the day ahead. We are in a state of constant communication. Whether we are checking out the latest news, offering a digital good morning or sharing a story from last night.
We are tuned in at all times.
I wish answering email was done as much as checking it. Kyle.
Kyle, about an hour ago I read an interesting related statistic that only 11% of teenagers use email daily. The author of that article pointed to email dying off as younger generations stick with texting and using social networks.
My understanding is that teenagers consider email to be what old people use for business to send attachments. With that perspective and cloud computing taking over, email may go the way of the eight-track one day.