Email marketing is a powerful tool despite social networking's growth

Email marketing is still a powerful tool for growing businesses and has not been adversely impacted by the growth in social networking, it has been claimed.

According to new research by the Participatory Marketing Network (PMN), people aged between 18 and 24 spend an average of 31 hours a month checking their inboxes, texting and using social networking sites.

The marketing association claimed that this is more time than is spent making phone calls, watching TV or reading magazines.

Michael Della Penna, co-founder and executive chairman of the PMN, said: "As long as email remains the collection point for social networking updates, including alerts around new followers, discussion updates and friend requests, it will remain a powerful force in marketing and our lives."

Recent research by comScore has shown that social networking websites such as Facebook were responsible for more than a quarter of the UK's total display ad expenditure during August 2009.

Written by Debra Hastings-Henry