> I think we need to rethink how we are staying in contact with our
alums. I
> love email and use it all the time, but that is not
really what the kids use
> anymore.
I've seen this mentioned all over the place, but does anyone have any data to support this?
The closest I have come is http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1484/social-media-mobile-internet-use-teens-millennials-fewer-blog which states:
* 73% of wired American teens now use social networking websites, a
significant increase from previous surveys. Just over half of online
teens (55%) used social networking sites in November 2006 and 65% did so in February 2008.
* As the teen social networking population has increased, the
popularity of some sites' features has shifted. Compared with activity
in February 2008, a smaller proportion of teens in mid-2009 were sending daily messages to friends via social networking sites, or sending
bulletins, group messages or private messages on the sites. My assumption: most (all?) social networking sites require an email address to sign up. So, close to 73% of all American teens have an email address. And while having an address is not the same as checking it for email, it's hard to say that with such widespread use that email is going away anytime soon
As to the question of maintaining email for alums, I have seen the demand for this decrease over time. When email use was less widespread, and these electronic messages still felt exotic, schools felt there was some cache in offering them to alums. However, as alums moved on to college, they wanted to use their college email. And the final nail in the coffin of email for alums was GMail.
As Steve said earlier in the thread, I generally see Development offices advocating for this. In the few cases where I have seen this offered, it has landed with an under-appreciated thud.
Cheers,
Bill
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