The death of email? Call us skeptical

So, this week Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg predicted the death of email:

“Email is probably dying.”

Forgive us if we’re skeptical.

While nobody can fully predict what new technology will take hold over the next few years, email is still the fabric that holds together online communications.

For example, Ms. Sandberg should look at her own company.  In fact, Facebook would be a whole lot different without email.  Where do friend requests, event invites and messages end up?  In both your regular email and Facebook inboxes.

Whether or not Facebook launches its own version of email — it’s still email.

Facebook also recently launched a new partnership with Yahoo! in which those with Yahoo! accounts can fully integrate the Facebook experience into their email.

Other newer social networking tools (and, yes, email is a social networking tool) also heavily rely on email.  Twitter, for example, relies on email to deliver you direct messages and new follower alerts.

Further, take a look at this recent study that finds the great majority (58%) of Americans start their day with email — as opposed to 11% starting it with Facebook.  Those numbers could change in the coming years, but those current numbers don’t make it seem as if email is going anywhere anytime soon.

Will email change?  Yes.  Will it adapt?  Yes.

We already see how Gmail users’ experience is changing — with the integration of Google Buzz, Google Voice and evolution of Google Chat.

Yahoo! is changing, as well, with its Facebook integration.

So, yes, email will change.  Email five years from now may look much different than it does today.  But that doesn’t mean it’s dying.

It’s adapting.  And it’s a bit too early to predict its demise.