Today, Sendmail released a cool infographic entitled, “Communicating Love in the Modern Era.”
Based on a survey of more than 200 people, the infographic shows how spouses, romantic partners and love interests prefer to communicate across a wide range of technologies, including the phone, email, social media, and texting.
It turns out, despite all the new avenues available to check in and hook up, people still prefer hooking up and checking in the “old fashioned” way, with the telephone, texting and email in a virtual tie for first place. Facebook factors in somewhat at 11%, but the biggest surprise was in instant messaging and video chat. Despite the real-time, conversational flow of IM and the face time made possible by video, only 5% of respondents chose either of these as the tool of choice for romantic connections. Meanwhile, Instagram, Google+ and Twitter proved to be romantic wastelands, attracting 1% or less of the vote.
Respondents demonstrated overwhelming concern around privacy, with 75% saying they’re worried about prying eyes at least some of the time. This would explain why only 3% turn to corporate email vs. personal email to discuss matters of the heart.
While allowing loved ones to connect, technology also proves to be a bit of a mischief maker, with 16% admitting they accidentally sent an intimate message to the wrong contact. Texting and email were the biggest culprits at 68% and 15%, respectively.
When comparing the responses of men and women, we found both genders shared the same preferences all across the board. People also for the most part felt the same regardless of age, though we observed an interesting relationship between age and the use of email and video chat: younger people tend to prefer video chat over email while the opposite tends to ring true for the older set.
What do you think of the findings? How do your preferences compare?