Teens are Ditching Email -- But Will Work Change That?

Email has been a mainstay for most adults, but it's possible that a younger generation could push it into scarcity. A study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project has found yet again that the majority of online teens are using social networking sites to communicate in lieu of email:

Only 14% of all teens report sending emails to their friends every day, making it the least popular form of daily social communication on the list we queried. Even among multi-channel teens, who are more likely to take advantage of any communication channel they have access to, just 22% say they send email to their friends daily.

The catalyst seems to be teens' activities on user generated content hubs like YouTube and Myspace. According to Pew, 59 percent of teens are creating online content, so sites that combine distribution and communication tools seem to be driving email's decline within the demographic.

But the real question is how the landscape for online communication will change once teens enter an email-centric working environment. Will social networking sites like LinkedIn or work-friendly solutions like Ning find newfound popularity, or will social networking throttle itself back to continuously appeal to a younger, advertiser-friendly audience? If you can tear yourself away from your email, make sure to sound off in the comments.

Photo: Flickr/Missty

[Via Teens and Social Media (pdf)]