To hear some people tell it, email - and therefore email marketing - is facing yet another threat on its life. They think Google Wave will revolutionize the way people contact each other and replace older forms of communication. Or it won't, as some stats and early reviews indicate.

ExactTarget published a whitepaper today, and according to a statement, "the research found a positive correlation among consumer usage of email, instant messaging, social networks and text messaging, dispelling myths that the explosion of social media and texting will overtake traditional email usage."

Indeed, this would seem to indicate that Google Wave might help email. It'll represent another way of holding conversations, after all, and then folks who aren't chained to it will turn to things like email and IM every so often to continue chatting or carry out some specific task.

So there's one point against the latest rumor concerning email's death. Next, we have to consider people's first impressions of Google Wave. Nicholas Carlson recently summed them up with the phrase "'Impressive' But 'Useless.'" He provided a little picture of a surfer wiping out, too.

Google Wave isn't quite set to replace email as the dominant form of electronic communication, then. Email marketers can go about their business as usual.

About the Author: Doug is a staff writer for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest eBusiness news.