One Email Address, Two Inboxes?
Could the future of email involve what today feels like alien behavior….an email culture where we have a primary Inbox, and a secondary Inbox that looks and feels much like our Spam/Junk folders of today?
It seems like an absurd proposition, but if we ever want to be 100% certain we receive the good email, will we ever be able to escape the daily routine of checking our spam/junk folders to be sure nothing was missed? Some will, but I suspect many won’t.
And with Outlook ‘03, it’s clear that they haven’t yet figured out how to continously deliver only the good email to your Inbox. Often, I approve a sender, only to find the next email from them right back in the Junk Folder. Luckily, they remind me to check it….and it’s now become part of my daily routine. Sure it’s no fun sifting through pointless junk mail from worldwide experts on utterly meaningless topics, but it is better than not getting some important email. And the more I do it each day, the easier it is to search for good email….it’s at the top…..so it’s a quick exercise a few times each day.
And over time, if other filtering and authentication strategies fail to gain traction, then we are likely to utilize email in much the same way we do today, with a Junk Mail folder continuing to hold important email. It’s only natural that the Junk Folder will continue to evolve and become more functional so that we can begin to use it more like a second Inbox.
Sounds crazy today….but maybe not tomorrow.
