Let’s face facts: E-mail just sucks as a business communications tool.

Way too many people get copied on way too many irrelevant messages. It’s a distraction. Context gets lost. Monstrous file attachments hog valuable server space and bandwidth. And some employees (typically the ones without backbone) use e-mail as a crutch to make their voices heard or send out commands to their fiefdoms, when face-to-face would be more effective.

Today in the Des Moines Register, we were mentioned in an article about the use of social networking within the workplace as an alternative to e-mail. (Except they left out our company name, Lava Row.) Lots of organizations are creating small networks within Twitter to improve communication and collaboration, and — even better — they’re getting it done quicker. BusinessWeek recently featured a Twitter vs. e-mail debate, which we encourage everyone to check out.

Google just acquired Jaiku (a web-based app similar to Twitter) and we highly suspect they’ll be mashing it into their office productivity suite soon. So, what creative things have you done in your office to improve communication?

Lava Row was featured in the “You Should Get To Know…” section of today’s Des Moines Register. (Yay!) However, the Reggie locks down articles after seven days and wants you to pay to read them (Boo!) so check it out while you can.

Jump here to the Des Moines Register article.

On Saturday, the Des Moines Business Record ran an article outlining social media’s importance in P.R., marketing and branding. A couple of local experts-slash-professionals were featured, including Lava Row. Thanks, Biz Record!

Link: Social media gain importance in marketing