Thank you for your comment. And my apologies for not getting back to you sooner.
I completely agree with your point: “Good opt-in …marketing is simply delivering something of value to someone that has specifically requested such things. They are more likely to read, appreciate and act on something which they have actively chosen to receive.”

So if you’ve chosen to join a group, or follow someone or some organization, you will receive the value that they broadcast to you on public platforms.
Even better, all of this happens without the cost, management and complexity of creating, pushing and reporting on traditional email.

From my perspective, social media offers the additional benefits of immediacy, community and transparency that helps increase brand perception and hopefully fosters loyalty. What’s more, all of this participatory activity in a community that has “opted-in” helps keep a brands ranking high on SERPs so that new suspects or prospects can more easily find the value that a brand offers. And the end result of that is that they just might join the community too.

Thanks so much for your considered comment.
You back up your POV with some powerful statistics.

Email’s current position as the essential application that’s used for millions of messages and collaborative interactions every day remains unchallenged. Yet with the reliance on email, it’s easy to see how people are struggling to stay on top of what’s buried inside their mailbox and how to sort out what’s important and what’s worth their attention or retention.

Social media delivers an immediacy and community environment that email would have difficulty matching. Social Media’s rapid rise and ability to deliver content to a community that has chosen to participate with visible and transparent measurement indicates to me that email may soon be challenged like never before.

But like you said, everything is moving and constantly changing. We’ll have to see where this all ends up.

Additionally I think you will start to see an integration of the two mediums, not a full replacement. The “2010 Marketing Trends Survey” published by StrongMail suggest 69% of business executives world wide will be increasing their email marketing budgets and 59% will be increasing their social media spending in 2010.

Other research from earlier this year “Beyond the Click: The Indirect Value of Email,” by Epsilon and ROI Research revealed that 84% of email users LIKED receiving emails from companies that they registered with, which is up from 2005.

A company should also consider that social media is basically living, everything is constantly changing and details and information can quickly be replaced with newer info. “Beyond the Click: The Indirect Value of Email,” also reported that 49% of males and 60% of females will save emails they receive from companies to read at a later date when they are ready to purchase.

I think you are correct that e-mail marketing is becoming less effective; this is certainly the case. Yet, you don’t touch on the issue, here at least, of providing value. Good opt-in email marketing is simply delivering something of value to someone that has specifically requested such things. They are more likely to read, appreciate and act on something which they have actively chosen to receive. When combined with new media and even older techniques like picking up the phone after opt-ins, e-mail marketing is still relevant and remains a tool-box staple when conducted correctly.