The Dark Side of Email

The dark side of email usage, and it’s real cost to the work environment isn’t discussed that often. Some of the lessons we can learn from it just as easily apply to social media sites.

You can find the full list here, but here are some of the highlights:

• Jackson et al (2002) found that people set their mail program to check for new mail every 5 minutes.
• They also found that people reacted to 70% of emails within 6 seconds and 85% within 2 minutes.
• Email doesn’t convey emotions very well, emoticons just don’t cut it compared to face-to-face interaction.
• People are less co-operative over email and even feel more justified in being less co-operative.
• People are more likely to lie over email, as it feels more like chatting and less permanent than a letter.
• People are less restrained due to the online disinhibition effect.

Now you could just as easily apply most of these findings to Social Media. How often do you check Facebook or Twitter for updates or instantly respond when someone asks you something over it?

How long do you keep Hootsuite/TweetDeck open in the background and keep tabbing to it to see if something new has shown up? I know I keep checking it much more than I do email.