People prefer talking face to face

In a study of "more than 2,000 people", a study by BT with Ipsos MORI has discovered one of those facts that I think most of us probably already knew; despite the rise of social networking websites and e-mail, most people actually prefer to communicate face to face.

The survey revealed that three quarters of us now use the internet to keep in touch compared to 44% ten years ago, and the number of people who favour e-mail as a way of communicating has risen by 6%. However, what I thought was the most interesting finding was that significantly more people prefer face-to-face communication now than did ten years ago, with just over two-thirds of those polled saying that they preferred speaking face-to-face rather than using any technology to stay in touch (compared to 51% ten years ago.)

My take on this is that it's a perfectly natural consequence of the rise of communications technology; we've got an ever-growing array of ways to communicate, which means we can stay in touch with more people than before through emails, text message, and even something like watching friends' Facebook status updates.

While it might be true that the "multitasking consumer" now has a 30 hour media day, the amount of time that's being spent with friends is never going to fit into that 'continuous partial attention' mode of behaviour. While we might find more time to fit in checking the internet, reading newspapers or listening to the radio, the amount of time that we can spend actually with our friends— face-to-face, in the same room (as opposed to on the phone, emailling, texting or Facebooking) is still strictly finite.

Which means that as free time is at an absolute premium, we value and appreciate that face-to-face time now more than ever (as well as valuing that time we get from our friends when we get their undivided attention.)

Digital communication certainly has it's place; the fact that you can keep in touch with friends in different cities, countries, time zones means that the internet definitely has it's place in our day-to-day lives (not just the ways our brands can reach consumers.) But I think the impact that this has on sitting down and having a chat over a drink is that it makes us appreciate it more- not less.

Another report based on the same study says that text messaging could become a dead technology within the next few years; as many consumers want a converged communication tool that can send emails, instant messages, make phone calls and access the web from anywhere.

"Consumers are telling us that instead of carrying around lots of different devices, what many really want is one communications tool," said Alnoor Samji, director of Ipsos MORI. According to Samji, this could spell the end of text messages as a mobile device that allowed people to use instant messaging would render them obsolete.

Personally, I don't see that prediction coming true. There's a difference in the way that we use communications tools on the go and how we use them at home or at work— as someone who uses mobile music, mobile video and mobile email, I simply don't use any of them in the same way. So I don't think that instant messagers or mobile "push" email (that arrive as soon as they are sent) are tools that people really want to have intruding on their day to day lives. While I like carrying my email around with me, I want it under my own control— when I want to check it, as opposed to when someone else wants me to check it. (Which might be when I'm enjoying a rare face-to-face conversation!)

At least, I like having mobile personal email in my pocket- those little electronic ball and chains that mean you're never truly "out of office" are a different habit altogether. But with the value of my free time constantly increasing, it's definitely not one that I've got any intention of starting…