By: Arthur Cooper
Submitted: 2011-03-16 00:23:25 | Word Count: 664
We are all guilty of having our little thoughts and pre-conceived notions about individuals based solely on their email address. Mstoocuteforyou@yahoo.com may be taken a lot less seriously than let’s say a Jane.Doe@gmail.com. The pre-judgment is seemingly natural and inescapable. We imagine our email addresses to be representations of ourselves. Yes, mstoocuteforyou@yahoo.com may actually believe that she is too cute for you but what will the rest of us think about her thinking that. We (when I say we I’m representing the people) prefer modesty and professionalism in an email address not only in professional lives, but also in personal lives. I, for one, am less likely to even read a joke mail from mstoocuteforyou@yahoo.com. I’d just rather not. Jane.doe@gmail.com sends me an email and I read simply because I trust what jane.doe has to say.
The Huffington Post recently posted an article agreeing that your email does indeed say lots about you before a formal introduction and the theories in this article were so intriguing that I thought I’d give a stab at assessing this myself. Here’s a little about the referenced article before I volunteer any more of my opinion. The Huffington Post gathered research from Hunch, a web application that provides specialized recommendations and surveyed a group of their users to see which characteristics defined users of different webmail providers. Hunch broke down email users not only by user names but also be preferred server. This is where it get’s interesting. I’ve divided Hunch’s analysis and my analysis for you to assess below:
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AOL
Hunch: AOL users are most likely to be overweight women ages 35-64 who have a high school diploma and are spiritual, but not religious. Family is their first priority. They tend to be politically middle of the road, in a relationship of 10 years, and have children…
Me: AOL users are also users of dial-up and have not changed their email address since they discovered email existed. Yes, they may be women over 60 but they do not have children as these children would inform the parent that it is time to let the email address (and dial up) go.
HOTMAIL
Hunch: Users are most likely to be young women of average build ages 18-34 (and younger) who have a high school diploma and are not religious. They tend to be politically middle of the road, single, and childless…
Me: How dare you, Hunch?! I basically fit this description precisely (except with a degree) but I am by no means a Hotmail user! I may have dabbled in a little Hotmail in college but that’s to the extent that goes. (Ok, if I have to be honest my Hotmail account is still open but I only check it every 6 months, promise.)
GMAIL
Hunch: users are most likely to be thin young men ages 18-34 who are college-educated and not religious. They tend to be politically liberal, single (and ready to mingle), and childless. Gmail users live in cities and have traveled to five or more countries. They’re career-focused and plugged in. They mostly read blogs, have an iPhone and laptop…
Me: Eh, I guess this is mostly true but I’d throw women into this statistic just for fair game.
YAHOO
Hunch: Users are most likely to be overweight women ages 18-49 who have a high school diploma and are spiritual, but not religious. They tend to be politically middle of the road, in a relationship of 1-5 years, and have children…
Me: Yahoo users are basic, aren’t to technologically savvy, shy, don’t crave spotlight, are average students, run in small social circles and prefer reading to a good party.
This debate could go on. I’d love to hear what you think about this topic. Feel free to leave comments and enlighten me. I’m obviously intrigued.
