Editing Email (section)

==Uses==
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2007}}

===Business and organizational use===
Email has been widely accepted by businesses, governments and non-governmental organizations in the developed world, and it is one of the key parts of an 'e-revolution' in workplace communication (with the other key plank being widespread adoption of highspeed [[Internet]]). A sponsored 2010 study on workplace communication found 83% of U.S. knowledge workers felt email was critical to their success and productivity at work.<ref>By Om Malik, GigaOm. "[https://gigaom.com/collaboration/is-email-a-curse-or-a-boon/ Is Email a Curse or a Boon?] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204012735/https://gigaom.com/collaboration/is-email-a-curse-or-a-boon/ |date=2010-12-04 }}" September 22, 2010. Retrieved October 11, 2010.</ref>

It has some key benefits to business and other organizations, including:
; Facilitating logistics
: Much of the business world relies on communications between people who are not physically in the same building, area, or even country; setting up and attending an in-person meeting, [[telephone call]], or [[conference call]] can be inconvenient, time-consuming, and costly. Email provides a method of exchanging information between two or more people with no set-up costs and that is generally far less expensive than a physical meeting or phone call.
; Helping with synchronization
: With [[Real-time computing|real time]] communication by meetings or phone calls, participants must work on the same schedule, and each participant must spend the same amount of time in the meeting or call. Email allows [[wikt:asynchrony|asynchrony]]: each participant may control their schedule independently. Batch processing of incoming emails can improve workflow compared to interrupting calls.
; Reducing cost
: Sending an email is much less expensive than sending postal mail, or [[long distance telephone call]]s, [[telex]] or [[telegrams]].
; Increasing speed
: Much faster than most of the alternatives.
; Creating a "written" record
: Unlike a telephone or in-person conversation, email by its nature creates a detailed written record of the communication, the identity of the sender(s) and recipient(s) and the date and time the message was sent. In the event of a [[contract]] or [[legal dispute]], saved emails can be used to prove that an individual was advised of certain issues, as each email has the date and time recorded on it.
; Possibility of auto-processing and improved distribution
: As well pre-processing of customer's orders or addressing the person in charge can be realized by automated procedures.

====Email marketing====
[[Email marketing]] via "[[opt-in email|opt-in]]" is often successfully used to send special sales offerings and new product information.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Martin | first1 = Brett A. S. | last2 = Van Durme | first2 = Joel | last3 = Raulas | first3 = Mika | last4 = Merisavo | first4 = Marko | year = 2003 | title = E-mail Marketing: Exploratory Insights from Finland | url = https://www.basmartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Martin-et-al-2003.pdf | journal = Journal of Advertising Research | volume = 43 | issue = 3 | pages = 293–300 | doi = 10.1017/s0021849903030265 | doi-broken-date = November 19, 2024 | url-status = live | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121021150626/https://www.basmartin.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Martin-et-al-2003.pdf | archive-date = 2012-10-21 | issn=0021-8499}}</ref> Depending on the recipient's culture,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.computerworld.com/article/2467778/endpoint-security/spam-culture--part-1--china.html|title=Spam culture, part 1: China|first=Amir|last=Lev|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110174233/https://www.computerworld.com/article/2467778/endpoint-security/spam-culture--part-1--china.html|archive-date=2016-11-10|date=2009-10-02}}</ref> email sent without permission&mdash;such as an "opt-in"&mdash;is likely to be viewed as unwelcome "[[email spam]]".

===Personal use===

====Personal computer====
Many users access their personal emails from friends and family members using a [[personal computer]] in their house or apartment.

====Mobile====
Email has become used on [[smartphone]]s and on all types of computers. Mobile "apps" for email increase accessibility to the medium for users who are out of their homes. While in the earliest years of email, users could only access email on desktop computers, in the 2010s, it is possible for users to check their email when they are away from home, whether they are across town or across the world. Alerts can also be sent to the smartphone or other devices to notify them immediately of new messages. This has given email the ability to be used for more frequent communication between users and allowed them to check their email and write messages throughout the day. {{As of|2011}}, there were approximately 1.4 billion email users worldwide and 50 billion non-spam emails that were sent daily.<ref name="Barnett 2011 p. 245">{{cite book |last1=Hansen |first1=Derek |last2=Smith |first2=Marc A. |last3=Heer |first3=Jeffrey |author-link3=Jeffrey Heer |chapter=E-Mail |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fCfrCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA245 |editor1-last=Barnett |editor1-first=George A |title=Encyclopedia of social networks |publisher=Sage |location=Thousand Oaks, Calif |year=2011 |isbn=9781412994170 |page=245 |oclc=959670912}}</ref>

Individuals often check emails on smartphones for both personal and work-related messages. It was found that US adults check their email more than they browse the web or check their [[Facebook]] accounts, making email the most popular activity for users to do on their smartphones. 78% of the respondents in the study revealed that they check their email on their phone.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://marketingland.com/smartphone-activities-study-email-web-facebook-37954|title=Email Is Top Activity On Smartphones, Ahead Of Web Browsing & Facebook [Study]|date=28 March 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429184034/https://marketingland.com/smartphone-activities-study-email-web-facebook-37954|archive-date=29 April 2014}}</ref> It was also found that 30% of consumers use only their smartphone to check their email, and 91% were likely to check their email at least once per day on their smartphone. However, the percentage of consumers using email on a smartphone ranges and differs dramatically across different countries. For example, in comparison to 75% of those consumers in the US who used it, only 17% in India did.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.emailmonday.com/mobile-email-usage-statistics|title=The ultimate mobile email statistics overview|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140711160527/https://www.emailmonday.com/mobile-email-usage-statistics|archive-date=2014-07-11}}</ref>

====Declining use among young people====
{{as of|2010}}, the number of Americans visiting email web sites had fallen 6 percent after peaking in November 2009. For persons 12 to 17, the number was down 18 percent. Young people preferred [[instant messaging]], [[texting]] and [[social media]]. Technology writer Matt Richtel said in ''[[The New York Times]]'' that email was like the [[VCR]], [[vinyl record]]s and [[Still camera|film cameras]]—no longer cool and something older people do.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/technology/21email.html |url-access=subscription |title=E-Mail Gets an Instant Makeover|last=Richtel|first=Matt|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=2010-12-20|access-date=2018-04-04|archive-date=April 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405033137/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/21/technology/21email.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/12/why-are-young-people-abandoning-email/339329/ |url-access=subscription |title=Why Are Young People Abandoning Email?|last=Gustini|first=Ray|work=[[The Atlantic]]|date=2010-12-21|access-date=2018-04-04|archive-date=April 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405024822/https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2010/12/why-are-young-people-abandoning-email/339329/|url-status=live}}</ref>

A 2015 survey of [[Android (operating system)|Android]] users showed that persons 13 to 24 used messaging [[Mobile app|app]]s 3.5 times as much as those over 45, and were far less likely to use email.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/24/email-is-dying-among-mobiles-youngest-users/|title=Email is dying among mobile's youngest users|last=Perez|first=Sarah|work=TechCrunch |date=2016-03-24|access-date=2018-04-04|archive-date=April 5, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180405025214/https://techcrunch.com/2016/03/24/email-is-dying-among-mobiles-youngest-users/|url-status=live}}</ref>