May 2009

E-mail is the latest communications tool – but people still have to meet in ‘the flesh’

E-mail is used extensively as a business and communications tool, but now it appears that more than half of people under 24 years-old say that they would ask someone out on a date over e-mail – this is the power of e-mail. This is a statistic coming from the UK.

Karen Geldenhuys, MD of recruitment company, Abacus Recruitment, said that recent research shows that even dating patterns are changing. “Everything is being done by e-mail these days. Even dating. More than half of people under 24 say that they are pretty happy to ask someone out on-line, rather then meeting, or talking, in the ‘flesh’”

These statistics come from UK-based online media site, ContractorUK. The site also said that more than half of Britons admit they make social judgments on people who email them by looking at the style and language of their message.

Research conducted by the on-line web-site showed that “women were twice as likely to feign cheerfulness as men, with more than a quarter saying they used a “false tone” or a smiley, :-) , to mask their true feelings”.

Research also reflected that, across both sexes, people in their early twenties were the likeliest to specifically ensure that their ‘email image’ was crafted correctly – or the way they wanted to craft it - and relayed an image they wanted to project. True or false.

In addition, more than any other age group, they also avoided difficult or awkward phone calls by reverting to e-mail instead.

“This can often be bad for business as, in some cases, a phone call is really needed. Or a meeting. Just sending an e-mail – to avert things – doesn’t always help, from a business and social point of view.

“But it must be accepted that e-mail is the way we communicate these days. To a large extent, people are hiding behind e-mail. But, ultimately, when it comes to employment opportunities, people need to sit down, face-to-face, with their potential employers. E-mail is not going to save them in this regard.

“E-mail allows us to hide; to make social judgments and decisions. But when it comes to getting that next job position, it is just one mark on the road. Face-to-face interaction remains critical. It always will.

“You can only keep people at arm’s length to a certain extent. And, asking for a date on-line is the same as asking for a job - at some point you have to have a face-to-face ‘meeting’. But e-mail is certainly the tool of choice these days.”