An email , also referred to as e-mail , is an electronic mail : a digital message transmitted over a computer network. The notion comes from electronic mail , the English expression for this type of email.
The way email works is similar to that of postal mail . In both cases, there is a message that a recipient sends to a receiver. With email, the content is digital (virtual), while a postal letter is physical (it is captured on paper). The mailbox to which the email arrives is also virtual: it is an email server.
The advantages of email over postal mail, however, are numerous. The information that circulates through the electronic network arrives almost instantly, a characteristic that eliminates or minimizes the delay between sending and receiving the message. On the other hand, an email can include all kinds of digital documents : from text to photographs, including audios and videos.
In addition to the advantages mentioned above, we cannot overlook another important series of benefits that email has over ordinary postal mail. We are referring to some like these:
-It is mostly economical, since shipping can be done for free thanks to platforms that offer a service of this type at zero cost.
-The same email can be sent to a large number of people at the same time.
-No less relevant is that email has in its favor that it can be controlled and managed to the maximum since the person in question will be able to know at all times the emails they send, the ones they receive, the time at which they arrive, the weight that they have because of the files they have attached …
-Helps take care of the environment, as it avoids having to waste paper when shipping.
However, there are those who consider that email also has its disadvantages compared to postal mail. In this case, they establish that the most notable are these:
-May be the target of viruses.
-In order to send an email it is necessary to have not only an Internet connection but also a mobile device such as a computer or smartphone.
-There are cybercriminals who resort to using emails to steal the personal or banking data of many people.
-In the same way, we cannot ignore the fact that emails encourage the reception of a long list of spam emails.
The term email can refer to both the message itself and the communication system or even to people's email address (which is made up of a local part linked to a domain using the @ symbol). For example: "A few hours ago I sent you an email, have you seen it?" , «Don't forget to send me the documents by email» , «My email is [email protected] , you can write to me there» .
It should be noted that it is possible to obtain an email account for free through services such as Gmail and Outlook.com . The interested party only needs to register and obtain a username that, added to the domain provided by the company, constitutes their email address. The service includes access to the system to send and receive messages online.