That’s right, my first recommendation is for email.
You probably already use it, you probably even like it (if you use gmail, otherwise you probably dread it), but I’m recommending it all the same. Email is free. Email is open both in format (no character limit, no formatting restrictions, text and pictures and links are all good) and in system (anyone can email anyone else, you’re not tied into one service like facebook or twitter).
In this age of facebook, and twitter, it is nice to have a simply inbox with private messages that you don’t have to reply to right away and people don’t know if you’ve read them or not. Like smacob and sally’s dialogue about blogging vs twitter , email is the victor in terms of allowing the writer/user an unrestricted workflow.
And who knew, that only 10 or 15 years after its introduction we’d be looking back at email as “last year’s model” and as a somewhat outmoded communication tool.
If you haven’t already, I recommend you check out email.
sometimes i’ll meet someone who doesn’t have (or, doesn’t ever check) their email- only facebook or myspace. these people are in junior high. or more commonly, they’re not, and i’m like “what are you, in junior high?”