NYT: Decline of Web-Based E-Mail

I use email, my kids don't

[jsinger]

"The number of visitors to Web-based e-mail sites, like Gmail and Yahoo mail, declined 5.9 percent from November 2009 to November 2010, according to comScore, a firm that tracks Internet traffic."

"But comScore’s numbers also confirm that the youngest Internet users are abandoning e-mail. Twenty-four percent fewer people age 12 to 17 used Web-based e-mail in November 2010 than did in November 2009, even as the number of users 55 and over continued to rise."

[nytimes.com...]

[tangor]

Love those smartphones... the kids that is...

[sem4u]

They are all on Facebook these days.

[brotherhood of LAN]

They'll still need e-mail to validate new online accounts. 99% of sites use e-mail validation.

[bhonda]

Maybe I'm missing something...isn't this about visits to the actual web sites to check their emails? I can imagine that this is indeed falling, because, like Tangor said, smartphones are becoming so much more popular - since I got mine, the number of times I've checked the email's website has drastically dropped, because I'm doing it through my phone (and I'm assuming visits like that aren't taken into account...).

I don't think that necessarily means that email itself is being dropped (especially by young people), surely it just proves that the method by which emails are used is changing?

Now I think about it, isn't a message on Facebook technically an email? Or am I missing something?

Curious investigation though, especially with the age factor!