Last month I told you about the small “t” telegram that arrived on a Michigan man’s doorstep a half-century late. Well, it seems rumors of another legacy messaging channel’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. In an op-ed for The Washington Post, history professor Jonathan Coopersmith argues people are sending more faxes than ever. This is particularly true in countries like Germany and Japan and industries like healthcare, where faxes are often seen as cheaper, more secure and more convenient than newfangled channels like email. Coopersmith doesn’t mention Slack or WhatsApp (or chat in general), but he does see the (digital) writing on the wall:
Eventually, the older generation of people more comfortable with faxing than emailing will fade away. Until then, fax machines will whirl away.
This is an excerpt from The Message, Smooch’s biweekly newsletter about the messaging industry, chatbots and conversational commerce. Subscribe to get the next edition delivered straight to your inbox.