I thought the article by Jonah Lehrer in the Wall Street Journal entitled “Why You Didn’t Hit Reply:  Online, Friends Still Get Premium Treatment”  (December 10-11, 2011, p. C32) was very interesting.  You can read the entire article by clicking here.

He says, “an easy way to see how you feel about a person:  How long does it take you to return their email?”

In the article, he cites a new study from Northwestern University researchers that found we exchange the highest volume of e-Mail with those whom we know the least.  They are people who you would not talk with on the phone, or stop to exchange ideas on the street.

Yet, the volume of e-Mail, however, says nothing about our response patterns.  People reply to their close friends within seven hours.  Professional contacts average nearly 11 hours.  But, people whom we don’t know jumped to 50 hours.   “In other words, there’s a surprising easy way to figure out how you feel about someone – just count the hours before you hit the ‘reply’ button.”

He goes on to say, “this study is a reminder that even in a world transformed by digital devices, the most important things remain constant.  Although we can interact with anyone, we still respond most quickly to our closest friends.  We now know many more people, but we haven’t forgotten which members of our circle really matter.”

Do you think this is true in your own case?  Do you have a clearly identifiable response pattern for your e-Mail?  If so, what kind of response patterns do you have?

Let’s talk about it really soon!