What is email?

Electronic mail is a system of world-wide electronic communication in which a computer user can compose a message at one terminal that can be regenerated at the recipient's terminal when the recipient logs in.

Email messages may have one or more attachments, which are additional files that are appended to the email.

Typical attachments may be Pictures, Documents, Music or Video files.

The recipient of an email will not nessasially know they have an email and must open their email client to find out.

Some examples of popular email systems are Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, iCloud and GMX Mail.

Two videos showing how to attach a file in email:-

• Email on a phone

• Another example

What is

• Instant messaging

• Messaging apps

• Direct Messaging

Mainly active on a mobile phone the emphasis here is Instant & Direct, meaning a message is sent to an "always on" device and an response is expected straight away.

So what is the difference between the two systems?

Answer: not a lot. Both send packets of information from one person to another person or groups of people.

An email can be sent to any legitimate email address regardless which company controls the email system.

An Instant messaging message can only be sent to recipient(s) on the same messaging system.

Some examples of popular messaging apps include WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, China's WeChat, Telegram, Viber and Snapchat.

Certain apps have emphasis on certain uses - for example Skype focuses on video calling, Slack focuses on messaging and file sharing for work teams, and Snapchat focuses on image messages.

Some social networking services offer messaging services as a component of their overall platform, such as Facebook's Facebook Messenger, while others have a direct messaging function as an additional adjunct component of their social networking platforms, like Instagram, Reddit, TikTok and Twitter.

The great debate between email and Instant messaging lives on. However more than two billion people still use it daily. For many businesses, email serves as the primary communication tool.

Some features of instant messaging systems which are not easy to do via email are :-

• Direct and group messaging

• Video chat

• Screen sharing

• Audio conferencing

• Secured file sharing

• Shared note-taking