Someones e-mail address can be a tell tale sign of several things. Unlike phone numbers, street addresses, E-mail addresses are picked out consciously. Even though one can ask for a personified phone number, in the end it still only numbers, whilst e-mail addresses can reflect the person. One of the most widely used online e-mail services has been Hotmail for a good couple of years. Microsoft recently announced that they’re dropping the service, so it’s users will have to look for a new e-mail address. Lets have a look into stereotypical e-mail address types and what it says about its owners.
Your First E-mail Address
It’s very likely that in the early years of the World Wide Web when you first got the opportunity to create an e-mail address for yourself, you thought it would be hilarious to put some kind of pop-cultural reference as your address. Not just are they most likely extremely out dated, but are also a sign of immaturity. E-mail addresses such as freddyprincejrroxxx@hotmail.com and the likes should be buried with 90’s.
Branded
Your name is a brand and should be treated so. It’s what others know you by, therefore just like a company, you should also treat it with care and build respect and trust for it. The most professional way to create an e-mail address is to use your full name. The typical format is [surname][familyname]@[provider].com. This is where it gets tricky however; the provider has to be picked carefully. There are many wide spread ones in the professional community such as Gmail and Yahoo, however there are a few black sheep out there. Often times the provider is associated with different social meanings.
@me.com Addresses
Everyone has his or her obnoxious Apple fan friend. These guys tend to be working in media (or at least lie to themselves as well about it) and prefer to end their e-mails with “sent from my iPhone” or “sent from my iPad”. I’m not challenging how good Apples’ products are, but the intensity of its fans. It’s becoming an unavoidable part of owning an Apple product to rub it into everyones face. Just don’t do it. Get a Gmail account like the rest of us.
@gmail.com Addresses
The default e-mail address of young and mid-aged adults. I’m struggling not to call them intellectuals, because it’s simply not true; anyone can have a Gmail account. However it is true, that most likely someone with a Google e-mail account will be considered a professional. It was mostly used by geeks and followed by the hipsters around the world, but by today it is so widely spread it’s a mistake to consider it hipster. However, even though how popular it is, it’s still considered cool; in fact it’s a little strange if someone doesn’t have a Gmail account.
There are millions of other e-mail addresses out there, this was just a quick recap of the most widely used ones. Make sure to create an e-mail address that reflect your professional personality and won’t bring shame to your brand. However, if for some reason you still want to keep “sexxmaniacdragonball@whatever.com” do it, but set up an account you’ll use for everything else besides … I’m not even sure what those e-mail addresses can be used for.
Guest post by contributing author Richard Orban, written on behalf of Jangomail. Jangomail offers a wide array of online email services, including but not limited to email newsletter, mass email and email broadcasting services. Be sure to check out Richard occasional twitter rants!