Over the past several years, we have witnessed a Social Media Revolution. MySpace, Facebook, Youtube and Flickr (just to name a few) are no longer obscure web2.0 distractions, but popular applications used by hundreds of millions of people and businesses. To ignore or revolt against it is futile and bad for business. Instead companies should learn to embrace the power and influence social media has unleashed.

To all you C-levels, if you haven’t read the Cluetrain Manifesto, you should. In short it highlights that the internet is enabling conversations among human beings that were simply not possible in the era of mass media. The days of corporate talk and spin are over. Quite simply markets are less responsive to Corporate banter. Rather markets want to hear a human voice. Companies are comprised of real people who know how to talk to real people. Social Media is the enabler.

So how can companies benefit from Social Media? By allowing their employees to talk to the market, which happens to consist of their friends, family and drinking buddies. These people are your market, your employees, your critics and your advocates. Companies shouldn’t fear Social Media, they should embrace it.

While I acknowledge the fear of loss productivity is real and no doubt some employees will abuse the right, clear policy and guidelines should limit abuse.

Don’t fear Social Media. It’s here to stay. Embrace it.

For more on this subject, check out the latest Ragan Poll: Fear drives managers to ban social media at work.

Can you imagine a place where you can not talk to your friends without a chaperon or tend to personal matters without permission? I can. I called it Hunters Creek Elementary School, but for many others it is called the Office. It’s sad but true. Millions of employees have had their access to personal email and social networking sites cut off.

Almost all corporations monitor e-mail communications; but did you know that more than half of these companies completely restrict employee access to top email and social networking sites like Gmail, Hotmail, Facebook and MySpace? There is a good chance you know this from personal experience: you are not alone. As a former corporate worker bee, I can completely relate to the frustrations shared by millions of people who have found themselves blocked from their personal email and social networking messages in the workplace.

Not all corporations are evil, so why do so many block employee access to external messaging accounts when it is clearly an unpopular policy? The answer may surprise you because “Productivity” is not the reason. Most corporate e-mail and internet policies are predicated on security, legal liability and regulatory concerns. In truth, the decision to restrict access is a prudent business practice.

Let’s look at the security issues first. Unrestricted access to external messaging accounts exposes company computing systems to the threat of viruses and other unwanted intrusions. It only takes one erroneous download to take down a single computer or even worse, an entire network. Even with the best-in-breed anti-virus applications, protecting computers from web downloads is difficult and breaches occur all the time. The bottom line is the cost, time and lost productivity associated with repairing or replacing an infected computer is high and the ROI on granting employee access to personal messages is almost nil.

So what of the legal liabilities? It’s sad, but we live in a litigious society and an offensive message sent from an employee’s computer can result in the company being sued. Furthermore, because it is difficult and expensive to monitor external messaging accounts in real time, any employee can willingly or inadvertently send confidential or proprietary information without the company finding out. Just think of the scenario where a financial analyst sends a message to a friend about a new deal they are working on. It sounds harmless, but in truth, that employee has just passed on insider information and that can result in investor lawsuits, government fines and even criminal charges. By the time the company finds out, the damage has been done. While instances like this are rare, they do happen and many corporations aren’t willing to take the risk just to keep their employees connected.

This brings us to the next major factor: Government regulation. There are many laws and government organizations regulating corporate email security, privacy and document retention practices. At least eight federal agencies and numerous state agencies have authority to enforce these laws, which include: Sarbanes-Oxley, HIPAA, Gramm-Leach-Bliley, SEC Rule 17A, NASD Rules 3010 & 3110, the USA Patriot Act and the Cyber Security Enhancement Act of 2002. The legal landscape for online messaging is complicated and unclear; however, the fines for violating these rules can be hefty. In February 2006, Morgan Stanley was fined $15 million by the US Security and Exchange Commission for its failure to properly retain email messages, and there are many similar examples.

The fight for the right to email is a relatively new one; many of the laws regulating email were just enacted over the last ten years. However, most experts believe the landscape will become increasingly more restrictive and even the most liberal companies will soon become more prohibitive with their internet policies. And the timing couldn’t be worse. As the tech-savvy Generation Y’s representation in the established workforce grows, the conflict will deepen. These young, well-connected technologists will find life quite difficult without high speed access to their online communities and messages. However, in the David vs. Goliath battles between employees and employers, Goliath usually wins. So what is a well-connected worker bee to do?

Is email dead? I have heard this declaration many times and from several people you might call web2.0 influencers. Honestly, it makes me laugh. I mean no disrespect, but how can anyone make such a statement?

The proof, after all, is in the pudding. In the U.S. alone, there are over 170 million email users; that represents roughly 60% of the U.S. population and more than 90% of U.S. internet users. There are more than 1.4 billion active email accounts worldwide. According to eMarketer, email is the most commonly used application of the internet, and 48% of users report spending at least one hour per day checking email.

So why do some very well-educated people make such ridiculous statements? Is the number of active email accounts declining? No!!! In fact, eMarketer claims that the number of email users in the U.S. will grow 14% to 194 million users by 2011.

So what’s up?

To give the contrarians the benefit of the doubt, I think what they are trying to say is that there exist newer and perhaps better ways for users to communicate over the Net. Instant messaging services such as AIM, Google Talk, Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Skype, etc. have really taken off. In addition many corporations are utilizing these services to facilitate real-time group discussions; and others have gone as far as to create internal IM clients to improve worker efficiency. Furthermore, instant messaging aggregation companies, such as Meebo and Trillian have enjoyed great success.

IM is only one of the many new online communication technologies that have began to proliferate. Many users are utilizing social networks such as MySpace, Facebook and Linkedin to communicate with friends and colleagues. Web2.0 startups like Twitter and Jabber have merged SMS text messaging and IM and are currently the talk of the town (at least on the Web).

I will concede that many of these new services offer the advantage of real-time two-way communication. I personally utilize many of the above-mentioned services; and they are great. But I will never give up my many email accounts. I will continue to use them as my primary form of online communication. Furthermore, as long as most global companies continue to rely on email, it is not going anywhere. If email is dead, then long live email.

Still not convinced? Check out these stats. And let me know what you think.

Provider             No. of Users
YahooMail                 250mm
Hotmail                      230mm
Gmail                           55mm

Windows Live           155mm
AIM                             100mm
Jabber                         90mm
Yahoo Messenger      22mm
Meebo                         1.2mm

Please pardon my interruption, but I noticed you from the other side of the Web and I was curious if I can buy you a drink. And by the way, how do you email?

I know it’s a terrible pickup line. And no, I have never followed up a pick up line with a discussion about email. In fact, I really don’t throw out many pick up lines. But “How do you email” is a question that I ask many people I meet. There are so many ways to email; most people have multiple accounts; and I am genuinely curious how the average user manages her many inboxes.

How do you email? Do you login to each account separately through each provider’s webmail client? Do you use an email client application, like Outlook, Thunderbird or Lotus Notes? Do you forward all your email accounts to a single inbox? Do you use your Blackberry or iPhone?

I haven’t conducted research that you could necessarily call “scientific”, but I have asked this question many times. It turns out that the majority of email users choose to login to each account separately. I find this interesting because it sounds like a burden—an inefficient way to utilize a tool that is supposed to make communication more convenient.

Why don’t more people use Outlook or Thunderbird? These applications are great for managing multiple accounts. If your email accounts support POP3, IMAP or MAPI you can integrate them with most email client applications. Most provide you with an individual folder for each account. With an email client application you can access all your accounts through a single, well-organized interface. So why don’t most people do this?

The answer shouldn’t surprise you. Most people don’t know what POP or IMAP is. Those that are better versed with the jargon don’t necessarily know how to find their provider’s server settings, and Outlook, Thunderbird and Lotus Notes do not make it easy for a non-technical user to set up their POP or IMAP accounts. Furthermore, not all email providers provide POP or IMAP access. Hotmail only integrates with Outlook (Microsoft still plays monopoly). Yahoo users can only utilize POP3 if they upgrade their account to the $20/year Mail Plus subscription. In addition, many of these email applications are expensive. And lastly, most corporate users who utilize Outlook or Lotus Notes are restricted from integrating their personal email accounts. (More on this subject to come!)

So what about forwarding? Many email providers allow users to forward their messages to any inbox. Why don’t more people do this? I have found that most people shy away from email forwarding because they like to keep their inboxes separate. The main reason users have multiple accounts, is to stay organized. I have an account for business, an account for personal use and an account for my newsletters (my bacon). I like it that way. I know when I am in my business account, its all business. When I am in my personal account, it’s all fun. And my third account is for shopping and killing time. Gmail has a new forwarding service called Mail Fetcher that allows you to forward all your other accounts and distinguishes the messages source account through a half-baked color coding scheme. I am not sold on this solution; I simply don’t like it.

So how do you email? Let me know. Maybe we can talk it over a drink.

How many email accounts do you have…2, 3, 17?

It is probably not a profound revelation, but most people have at least 2 email accounts. In fact, according to eMarketer (September 2007), of the 170 million U.S. email users, more than 94% (~160 million) have more than one email account and 65% of users (~128 million) utilize three or more accounts. And these stats do not even include social networking accounts, most of which provide electronic messaging. That means less than 6% of U.S. email users, a measly 10mm people, utilize a single email account.

Personally I have 4 accounts, but I only actively use two. I use one account for my business and a second for personal communications with friends and family. I rarely check my other two accounts, one of which is used for “junk” and “bacon” (newsletters and e-commerce) and the other, well, it’s a relic of a former life, a dormant account that I just can’t part with.

So how do you use your various email accounts? Why do you keep them separate, if you do?

Wow! Am I really a blogger? Well I have just created a blog, so I guess that makes me a blogger. The real question, however, is “Why did I create this blog?” The answer: To push a brand new service that I and my rock-star development team have created? Well…Yes, but that’s not the whole story. I have created this blog to facilitate discussions and educate readers (as well as myself) about social media and how it will continue to change our lives. Namely, how will the proliferation of new Web 2.0 applications affect the way we connect, communicate and collaborate, both, in our personal lives and in the workplace.

Our web-based service, NutshellMail.com, is still in double top secrete stealth mode, but I will reveal a bit about it. NutshellMail.com was created to address the following questions, which just happen to be topics of this blog:

1. How do we manage multiple e-mail and social networking accounts?
2. How can we utilize social media (including personal e-mail and social networks) in the workplace without violating corporate policy?
3. How can we protect our children from inappropriate messages and cyber-stalkers?

I hope you find these posts to be informative and useful. I encourage you to post comments, introduce new subjects and invite your friends to participate. And lastly, please check out NutshellMail.com (once we launch). Its a FREE service, and it just may make your online life a little bit more manageable.

Very Truly Yours,

Mark – a blogger

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