A great communications system. It's called email

This morning is not unlike most mornings. I have received direct messages on Twitter, on 3 kinds of SMS and the phone has rung. SMS pops into my face demanding attention. I love Twitter, but it is often difficult having a real conversation in only 140 characters.

The funny thing, is I've started using GMail more and more lately. GMail, in my experience, has solved a couple of problems that we have all hated about email:

• Spam. Once you tell Google it's spam, the sender is gone and stays gone. I'm not sure but I would guess I receive less than five spams a day--and they are not the most offensive of them.
• Access. There are few places I travel to where I cannot access my GMail. This was not true on previous ISP accounts.

There are a few things GMail sucks at. It makes choice for you, that I would prefer to make for myself. For example, in a message string, if I wish to change the subject line, I have to start a new string. Worse, google has decided it's labels are better than folders, which is true about half the time in my experience.

The point is this. Twitter is not well-suited for complex conversations, where details and options are necessary.  Multiple threads cause confusion and looking back at what was said a while ago is more difficult in Twitter than GMail.

SMS pops up like toast. The SMS message may be you 4th or 5th priority, but it often grabs your attention.

A great many of us walked away from email because of the sheer volume and because of the spam. Well both the volume and the spam have been reduced for many people. GMail has become a clearer channel and very useful in a great many cases.

Comments

[PXLated]

I guess I've just been lucky, my host (EngineHosting) also manages my email and I haven't had more than a couple spams a week for at least 2-3 years so email has always been my preferred communications channel.

[Baxter Tocher]

But Gmail's label's are effectively folders anyway, aren't they? They certainly appear that way on a mail client using IMAP.

[shel israel]

For me they look and work more like tags than labels. Some people love this. I don't and maintain that Google should give me the choice and not make it for me. I'd like multiple views, like MS, of all entities, offers them up. before some says it. Nobody owns the folder metaphor. It goes waaaay back.

[Scott Monty]

I thought the same thing about labels vs. folders when I first started using Gmail. But as I've gotten used to labels, I really like them. Many times, I'll apply numerous labels to emails, to make it easier to find them later on - think of it like the way you use tags in del.icio.us.

And you actually CAN change the subject line of your emails. When replying, directly under the "To" box, you'll see the following options: Add CC, Add BCC, Edit Subject Line. Just click on the link and you can change the subject without needing to start a new string.

There ya go. All advice comes with my usual money-back guarantee. :)

[shel israel]

Scott I use labels and understand how they work. There are times when I prefer folders. My argument is that GMail should let me choose the view. They should not decide for me.