Dive Brief:

• New findings in a study by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and theEMPLOYEEapp by APPrise Mobile show that 95% of organizations still use email as their prime mode of communicating internally, despite access to social media, messaging and other trendier formats.
• But there's hope for younger communication formats yet. ​The study also shows that despite email's overwhelming use, only 69% of those polled think it's the most effective way of communicating with employees.
• Other key findings in the study reveal that ​respondents found social media to be 11% more effective at communicating with outside audiences than email. But most respondents (63%) think email will always be used.

Dive Insight:

Employers and workers tend to use what's most familiar. For decades, email has been that choice. Although mail clutters up in-boxes and can be a major workplace distraction, it's often viewed as more business-appropriate than social media, messaging and texting, which are used for less formal communication.

However, for many companies that rely on remote work, need quick responses or simply skew younger, instant messaging apps like Skype, Slack and HipChat are a key part of collaboration. Especially for companies that are geographically spread out, chat apps can create that "by the watercooler" feeling that one would normally get chatting in an office setting. But as always, such apps bring great risk of distraction, too.

Unfortunately, email also has been the communication tool of choice by hackers trying to get into HR databases, where personal employee information like Social Security numbers and financial information is stored. So far, chat apps seem to be pretty safe from such intrusion — but that, of course, could change on a dime.