Is Voicemail Dead?

There's an interesting discussion going on over at TechCrunch on the merits of voicemail. Basically, many tech-savvy folks feel that voicemail is a bad way to interact with people because it's outside of their normal workflow continuum and is difficult to deal with. Many of those people deal with it by getting their messages turned into emails; telling callers to send an email instead of leaving a message; or simply turning off their voicemail altogether.

I agree with them. While I have no problem talking on the phone, I don't like listening to messages (especially via any non-iPhone system that doesn't let you see individual messages) and I am much worse about returning voicemails than emails. I still find myself leaving voicemails, though, because I'm under the impression that many folks are more likely to respond to a voiemailed inquiry than an emailed one.

So maybe I'm a hypocrite, or maybe we're about to see a seachange in the way that business is done. What do you think? Is voicemail the wave of the past?

(Photo via Silas216)