We are just wrapping up a large study of end-user applications of various types of messaging technologies. Here's some of what we are finding:

* The average e-mail user sends and receives a mean of 135 work-related e-mails during a typical workday, although users in large organizations (>1,000 employees) send and receive more e-mails than their counterparts in smaller organizations.

* Users in smaller organizations are more likely to use consumer instant messaging clients and social networking sites than are users in larger organizations, although uses in larger organizations are more likely to use Web conferencing tools – both as initiators of Web meetings and as participants in those that others initiate.

* Despite the increasing use of non-e-mail modes of communication in the workplace, nearly three-fourths of all communication that users send during a typical day at work is accounted for by e-mail. Interestingly, we are finding virtually no difference between small, midsized and large organizations in this regard.

* Further, 92% of users consider e-mail to be important or critical in getting their work done.

* Three-quarters of e-mail users check their work-related e-mail from home on weekdays and nearly as many do so on weekends. However, users in smaller organizations are much more likely to check their work e-mail while on vacation than their counterparts in larger organizations.

What this tells us is that despite the increasing use of instant messaging, social networking and a variety of other collaboration tools, e-mail continues to reign supreme as the most important communication medium for most users. Given e-mail’s ubiquity and ease of use, we are hard pressed to imagine that e-mail will be supplanted by any competing or complementary technologies during the next several years. That’s not to say that instant messaging, social networking and other tools won’t be deployed – they will – but e-mail will continue to dominate for years to come (Compare Unified Communications products).

Michael Osterman is principal analyst of Osterman Research.