Every few years, a popular new digital trend comes along--SEO, RSS, Social Media--and poor old email is promptly declared dead. (Fortunately, the rumors of email’s demise have been greatly exaggerated as email continues to influence consumers and enjoy an upswing)

Most recently, the growth of social media has been forecast as the new communications tool, the one that will really put email out of its misery. And indeed, its growth is impressive. As we’ve said many times before, social media is something most organizations should be incorporating into their communications plans.

But email is still the real socialite at the party, the digital glue that binds our on-line experience together. According to a recent survey, 78% of consumers said that when they find something on-line they want to share, they share the link with friends and interested parties via email. While uploading to Facebook or sharing on Twitter is gaining ground, email continues to be the go-to medium for sharing information. Recent research further underlines the fact that there are real benefits to sharing your email content on social media sites, highlighting the benefits of cross-pollinating your efforts.

Why is email still the go-to medium in spite of the growing popularity of social sites? In addition to being dynamic, nimble, effective and measurable, email is the commonality in the web 2.0 world, the medium most of us are privately addicted to (or publicly if you’re like me and check email on your PDA even as you buy groceries). To name just a few advantages email retains…

• It’s the easiest way to send documents
  
  
• It’s the place your RSS feeds show up
  
  
• It’s where you find out someone just DM’d you from Twitter or Facebook
  
  
• It’s where you can embed all sorts of files
  
  
• It doesn’t have history of rights control issues like Facebook
  
  
• It archives a history of your interactions

Most of all, it is an exceptionally effective way to create powerful relationships with current and potential customers, as well as the press. And, email can be highly successful when combined with other in-bound and out-bound tactics.

Old email geeks like me are happy to welcome social media into the mix, but we’re not likely to attend email’s funeral anytime soon. We’re happy to declare it alive, well and still top dog for sharing information!