SCOTS are well known for their love of a blether.

Now a poll has found that the nation's love of chat has not been threatened by the advent of email, social media and text messages from mobile phones.

YouGov's study of 2200 adults found Scotland and the north of England still prefer talking face to face to email, with a chat being voted their favourite communication method.

Researchers found that 60% of respondents in the areas voted it top, compared to 49% of Londoners and 47% of people in Wales.

In the UK overall, email (60%) was voted the favourite method of getting in touch with someone, followed by face-to-face (55%), and texts (50%). A mobile phone call was the top approach for only 32% of people questioned, followed by social media such as Facebook and Twitter (23%). Email was most popular among those aged 55 and over (70%), due to its ease of use.

Dave Paulding, of contact centre provider Interactive Intelligence, said: "Across the UK regions, people's communications preferences vary according to where they live."