Email Evolution -The Standards

SMTP was email's first standard that was really important. The reason why it was so important is because it was the protocol for sending messages. In fact, it was short for simple message transfer protocol, or SMTP. This standard was incredibly easy and today it is still used.

The one problem with SMTP is that when it was developed there was no thought put into how the person sending the message would be confirmed as that actual person or entity. As a result, email forgery was quite simple to accomplish and still occurs today. The flaws that occurred in the initial SMTP would be taken advantage of, too, and fall victim to worms, viruses, and spammers. Today, there are still problems with viruses, worms, spammers, and identity thieves. There are new programs to help individuals fight these problems, but they still exist. Unfortunately, this works against email marketing because people are so wary about what shows up in their email inbox and if it is really from the person claiming to send it.

Email continued to evolve and develop and as it did there were some features that were added that were really interesting. Eudora was a commercial system that was one of the first really good ones and then later Pegasus showed up and it was good, too. Soon, Internet standards were necessary for email and as they matured POP servers became practically standard, too. POP stands for Post Office Protocol. The reason this was important was because it allowed all email programs to work with one another. Without a standard there would be lots of programs but people could not communicate across these programs. That' why POP became popular and standard.

During this time email users had to use dial up to connect to the Internet and since they were using a phone line there were per minute charges. Generally, people on the Internet during this time frame were only on so they could send emails. Then, email got a boost like never before with interfaces from providers Hotmail, Yahoo, and others. This was amazing because it allowed pretty much anyone who had access to the Internet the ability to have an email address without having to own a computer or even have an Internet connection. When this became available everyone everywhere wanted email and they got it. There are more than 600 million people with email today and the numbers are growing by the minute.

Thanks to the standards of email and the mass availability of email thanks to Hotmail and Yahoo, today email marketingis a great way to sell a product or service because hundreds, thousands, or even millions of individuals may be contacted in a matter of minutes. That's amazing power and it is all thanks to email and its evolution.