Forbes.com today has a report called The Beginning of the End of E-Mail. They postulate that because teens tend to prefer instant messaging (IM) over e-mail, e-mail’s days are numbered:

According to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life project, barely 5% of American teens aged 12 to 17 prefer e-mail over instant messaging as their digital communications method of choice. Teens view e-mail as a way to talk to “old people” or institutions like companies. Kids, it seems, prefer the immediacy and mobility of instant messaging and text messaging to e-mail, which they might some day refer to as snail mail, the same way most people over 30 refer to the U.S. Postal Service.

I’m sorry, but while the study may be accurate, the conclusion is nothing but a pile of horseshit, belied by this later paragraph:

That’s not to say that e-mail use is dropping. It is still the most popular Internet application. According to the Radicati Group, over 130 billion e-mail messages will be transmitted worldwide every day this year. That number should more than double to 276 billion in 2009.

Kids like IM because of the immediacy of it, sure. When I was a kid, I didn’t think further than 10 minutes ahead; had I had IM at my disposal, I would have loved it. In fact, when ICQ came out, I was a teenager, and I loved it. And I still love it (and its brethren).

The point is, as these kids age and enter the work force, they will grow up and see the value of a communication medium that is more formal than IM but less formal than snail mail, and affords meticulous conversation tracking. E-Mail tools absolutely must evolve, but as Gmail has shown us, it’s possible, and it’s happening.

I’m not worried about e-mail’s future. It ain’t goin’ anywhere.