Email usage: Web-based down, mobile up says comScore

According to comscore’s latest report on Email evolution in US (Nov 2010),

• The number of visitors to web-based email sites (gmail, hotmail, yahoo mail etc) declined 6 percent compared to the previous year
• Email engagement declined at an even greater rate (i.e. email was not their medium of communication)
• The number of users accessing email via their mobile devices grew by 36 percent
• Youngsters between 12-17 have stayed away from web based email.
• The number of 55-64 year olds accessing web-based email increased 15 percent
• While web-based email has witnessed a decline over the past year, email usage via mobile devices has experienced significant growth, driven largely by increased smartphone adoption.
• 70.1 million mobile users (30 percent of all mobile subscribers) accessed email on their mobile, an increase of 36 percent from the previous year.
• The report rightly mentions – it’s now essential for media brands to have a strong presence in both arenas (PC web & mobile web)
• Web based email saw time spent falling 9%, and page views dropping 15%.
• Most teens in the US are texting (SMS) to communicate

Youngsters these days are ‘introduced to email’ on mobile devices, unlike most of us were introduced to email on PC web.

How different would this report be in India?

• Not every different.
• Youngsters in India too are texting every other minute (language is taking a huge beating).
• Teenagers ask me to communicate thru Facebook mail and not regular mail.
• Older folks possibly write longer mails and communicate less frequently while the youngsters communicate very often, its bits & pieces (and < 140 chars!)