Teen Entrepreneurs Say Email is for Work Only
Fri Jul 20, 2007 6:12PM EDT
See Comments (749)
We've heard about how email is yesterday's communication for today's teens before, but here are some pretty compelling comments from young entrepreneurs at the center of teen online life about how teens use tech to communicate. They're from Cnet's Stefanie Olsen's report from the YPulse Mashup 2007 conference in San Francisco.
• Emo Girl Talk podcast host Martina Butler says she only uses email for business and to win sponsors.
• If teens send emails to each other, most only do it via Facebook or another social network.
• Teens text. Period. Asheem Badshah, the teen-aged president of Scriptovia.com, an essay-sharing web site, says: "For me even IM died, and was replaced by text messaging. Facebook will replace e-mail for communicating with certain people."
• Catherine Cook, co-founder of MyYearbook.com, said she still emails some friends, but she sends thousands of text messages a month: "I don't know any teen who doesn't have a phone with them all the time."
Hearing it straight from teen entrepreneurs gives parents a look into what they can expect from their own teens. (Thanks to Anne Collier at NetFamilyNews for the link.) How are your teens communicating most these days?
LINKS: Kids say e-mail is, like, soooo dead [Cnet]
Finding the teen gene [Yodel Anecdotal]
Related: Fast-Growing myYearbook.com Gets $4.1 million
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47 Posted by amettler07 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:52PM EDT Report Abuse
I may not be the most hip person, but I use email all the time. It is a little more private and almost as good as getting snail mail. Texting and Facebook are ok to use, but I find myself on email more often than anything.
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48 Posted by madmio on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:03PM EDT Report Abuse
When texting, you can't have a deep and long conversation like you can through e-mail. When sending an e-mail, you have the time to sit down and think about what you write, texting is just quick chatting. Comparing e-mail with text messaging is like comparing apples to oranges.
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49 Posted by quite_pinkish on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:24PM EDT Report Abuse
i am a teenager and i never use email.. its either sms phone calls and sometimes the messenger..
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50 Posted by link777294.skitchy on Thu Sep 3, 2009 6:53PM EDT Report Abuse
I don't even have a cellphone...
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51 Posted by sarhad1207 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 9:04PM EDT Report Abuse
Myspace, facbook, etc is where teenagers trying to look "cool" and popular in front friends and family. When messaging or comment through those social networks, it is mostly "hi, how are you?" or "whats up?". However, e-mail is more for adults, since trying to look cool and popular is not a big deal.
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52 Posted by john82555 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 4:38PM EDT Report Abuse
Well - contrary to some other comments to this piece, I know exactly what this about. I'm a 51 year old Dad. If I want to get a response from my 18 year old daughter, it's text msg'ing. I asked her once if she used e-mail. She laughed and said, "Ewww. You might as well write a letter."
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53 Posted by abirdsings on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:44PM EDT Report Abuse
This is just consumer brainwashing propaganda - if you are a teen and you like to text, fine. If you are a teen and you like to email, fine. Don't buy into this bull that x x x isn't cool anymore. That's what the marketers want everyone to think - they make more money off sheep that way. This whole story was one big advertisement, nothing more.
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54 Posted by zenner773 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 11:00PM EDT Report Abuse
well, you can see that e-mail and im are moving to a more dynamic format like texting and as wifi phones become more popular, this will be the case. However when I hear news like this one, it makes me wonder if is not a big cell phone provider behind the scene trying to entice impressionable teens and young adults into upping their phone plans with other more expensive services.
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55 Posted by catship2001 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:19PM EDT Report Abuse
w0w im b0rd..
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56 Posted by rdmurillo on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:33PM EDT Report Abuse
yep texting is a much easier way to stay in touch.. you dont need to sit inside by a computer. You can use them to communicate when talking isnt an option; work, school, concerts. I know many many young people who are increasingly using text messages as their primary way to communicate
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57 Posted by beachbumm1554 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:04PM EDT Report Abuse
this article is right! i almost never check email. Im 13 and i go over 500 texts every month. I also IM all the time. Emailing is for my parents...not me!
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58 Posted by blackmoonkitsune on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:08PM EDT Report Abuse
I'm a teen, and I don't text at all. Sheesh. I don't see any use for it. The only communication I use are emails and LJ--oh, and the occasional phone call. It's just a waste of time and money; I have more important things to waste it on. And, no_luck1072, I'd appriciate it if /you/ open your eyes--your kids aren't everyone else's.
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59 Posted by mizzbeautiful_16 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:22PM EDT Report Abuse
yawp teens is awl over with emails textins and myspace is da new thing to talk . so yeah
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60 Posted by purplepup22 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:22PM EDT Report Abuse
That is so true. I have to agree with them. I dont text but I IM and e-mail. E-mail is very useful for when somebody that you must talk to asap isnt answering their phone or something like that then you e-mail.
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61 Posted by cece0485 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:20PM EDT Report Abuse
I think, in general, teens are using text all the time. In class, at work, etc. It's a lot easier. I do it all the time...
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62 Posted by mustang_sally3189 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:30PM EDT Report Abuse
e-mail is so a thing of the past. no one e-mails anymore unless you're trying to get a hold of an adult or something.. everyone i know is either always texting or using facebook or myspace. a lot more people use facebook though. i text more than i talk on the phone! go to any highschool classroom and you will see 80% of the kids texting throughout the whole class!
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63 Posted by candacecorbeil on Wed Jul 25, 2007 8:27PM EDT Report Abuse
This article is rubbish. I can't the stereotypes they make about teenagers. Apparently the author has nothing worthwhile to write about.
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64 Posted by thejadedstar04 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:04PM EDT Report Abuse
I'd have to agree with the statement that aim too has died out. Even aim now gets forwarded to your phone via text msg. But I also agree that the uses for e-mail are still pretty alive. Especially for school work.
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65 Posted by at_inniss on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:59PM EDT Report Abuse
i agree i send and recieve at least 1000 text massages a week its jusst convieniant you get a quick direct responce while still doing what every it was you were doing not waisting any time i use email at work but it might take hours to get a response..i think you should have said email was outdated just second to fasted peronal messaging tools...
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46 Posted by c1245b on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:16PM EDT Report Abuse
I know Noah your kindof right. I'm a teen and I text but also use email for my mini business and for friends. But now teens use like yahoo messenger or aim or phone. Yeah and twixmix your right too, I send emails of study guides and all different types of schoolwork my friends and stuff and during the summer I email too. So yeah thats my opinion.