Just one of several reasons: “social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter rely on emails to provide notifications of direct messages or whether someone has liked a post. Social media requires email to work.”

Data from a recent Ipsos survey for Reuters show that social media, new as it is compared to e-mail, has substantial adoption:

• 85% of people in 24 countries use the Internet for emails 
• 62% use it for social networking,
• 14% use the Internet for voice-over IP