- What is email?
- Email history
- Email types
- How does email work?
- Parts of an email
- Advantages of email
- Disadvantages of email
We explain everything about email, its history, types, advantages and disadvantages. Also, the parts of an email.
What is email?
Email or e-mail (taken from English electronic mail) is a media digital writing, similar to the letters and postcards of the postal service of yesteryear, which takes advantage of the technology Internet multimedia for the deferred sending of more or less long messages, with or without attachments, between two or more different interlocutors.
E-mail was long the way to communication standard among users of Internet. Even today it occupies a privileged role, especially when it comes to transmitting information additional (attachments of various kinds) that do not require immediate attention.
In the latter, email, instant messaging and other 2.0 telecommunications are distinguished, which privilege immediacy and simultaneity. It should be noted that the term is used both to name the medium and the message itself; that is why we usually say that “We will send an email”.
Despite the fact that emails have been relegated in recent years to the workplace and corporate, it is estimated that around 144,000 million email messages are sent around the world daily.
Email history
The most important antecedent of what we understand today as email arose in 1962, with the IBM 7090 computer, which allowed the interaction of different users from remote terminals, which could exchange messages.
However, in 1965 the MAIL service emerged, a true forerunner of email, which allowed the sending and receiving of messages between users of this computer.
Ray Tomlinson was the creator of the current email. Created the first protocol experimental for the exchange of information between machines connected to the same network: CYPNET. He was also the one who introduced the at sign (@) as a marker symbol to distinguish between the user name and the name of the user in email addresses. service.
With the arrival and massification of the Internet, obviously, email became a popular and daily tool. It was first offered free of charge in 1971 and by 1977 it was the standard worldwide information exchange mechanism in the communities on-line.
Email types
Email works, broadly, the same way regardless of your specific goals. However, according to the use that is given, we can talk about:
- Personal email. Those owned by individuals, and that obey their particular interests, that is, for private and personal use. One person can have many personal email addresses and use them as they see fit.
- Email corporate. Those who serve as a written link between the various departments or segments of a business, u corporation organization, and which can generally be accessed only from workstations, corporate cell phones or through the use of a password that guarantees the secrecy of the information handled.
- Institutional email. Those who represent the entirety of a company, organization or institution of any kind, serving as a communication bridge between the organization and its clientele, that is to say, between the inside and the outside of it.
How does email work?
In principle, email works in a very similar way to postal mail, which is why it uses it as a reference for its operation. This ranges from the name of things (messages are considered "letters" and are often represented as envelopes; inboxes are called "mailboxes", etc.) to their operation.
For its part, the latter could not be simpler: user A writes to user B a message telling something. If you wish, it is also possible to include some relevant photographs, audio or video files, which contains your computer.
Moments later, the email of user B receives the letter and, eventually, reads it and downloads the Photographs on your own computer. You can then write a reply to User A, returning his impressions and, if he wishes, send him attachments that he considers. This process can be repeated as many times as you wish, and it does not necessarily take place in strict shifts.
Parts of an email
Email services often identify and filter spam.Usually, an email is made up of:
- Inbox. The virtual space where the received messages rest, according to a chronological or personalized order, either in general or organized in folders.
- Outbox. Similarly, the messages to be sent rest in this virtual space, before being classified as "sent".
- Sent folder. Where you can find the history of letters and documents sent, organized chronologically.
- Spam. Spam is called by this name, usually with advertising or misleading promotions, which often leak from the "legal" content of the mailbox.
- Addressee. The email address of the person to which the email will be sent.
- Matter. Space for a brief description of the content of the message, as an opening, that the receiver will be able to read without having to open the mail completely.
- Message body. The written information that you want to convey.
- Attached files. The additional data that you want to transmit along with the message, by way of attachments.
- CC / Bcc. Acronyms for Carbon copy Y Hidden Carbon Copy, allow the sender the possibility of also sending an identical copy to a third user, either in a visible way for all (cc), or invisibly (bcc).
Advantages of email
The advantages of email over other written communication formats are:
- Speed. The data almost immediately and the risk loss of information is minimal.
- Security. This is a debated topic (generally it is privacy on the Internet), but email providers generally use powerful encryption mechanisms to shield their users' data from third parties and information thieves.
- Attachment data. While there are computational limits to the size of the computer files Attachments that can be attached to an email are often large enough to send most of the personal documents that you want to share.
- Versatility. Our email may be used in the way we want it, within a certain framework of legal and procedural regulations.
- Low cost. Almost all email services today are completely free.
- Ecological. It does not use real paper and therefore does not produce waste, nor does it consume physical resources (beyond the electricity necessary for Internet access).
- Global. We can check our email in any part of the globe, and send and receive messages from anyone in any corner of the planet.
Disadvantages of email
For its part, email has the following disadvantages compared to other messaging modes:
- Lack of interactivity. Unlike chats and instant messaging services, emails must be read one at a time.
- It is relatively vulnerable. Email is a source of evidence to which hackers (hackers) and computer viruses can eventually gain access, for which they create trap emails and other forms of deception to access the information of a careless user.
- You need the Internet. In conditions of poor connectivity or countries with low Internet penetration, email is not a good option.
- You need some electronic device. In order to access the email we must have a computer, smartphone or tablet, which also means having electricity.