How important is your digital presence?

Hardly a week goes by without news that some retailer is launching an E-newsletter, blog, podcast or text message campaign. Your customers are hip, techno-savvy and if you want to reach them you’ve got to go digital.

Oh really?

New research from the Pew Internet & American Life Project shows we’ve got a love-hate relationship with technology. According to the report, 85% of American adults use the Internet or cell phones -- and most use both. Many also have broadband connections, digital cameras and video game systems. But only 8% of adults fully embrace all these technological resources.

“Two groups of technology users have a kind of tech-gadget remorse,” said John B. Horrigan, associate director at the Pew Internet Project and author of the report. “They have more than a fair share of digital appliances. But they aren’t all that satisfied with the flood of information or pervasive connectivity that comes along with these communication goods and services.”

The report goes on to describe a fractured tech-consuming public. There are the full-fledged geeks, the moderate users and people who choose not to fiddle with e-mail and gadgets. No clear majority emerges.

Hmm. Maybe retailers shouldn’t be too quick to ditch snail-mail newsletters, postcards and flyers. If only the U.S. Postal Service would take pity on you…

-- Sarah