I have been thinking through this a bit and am trying to get my head around all the ways we connect and share information (person to person).  As blogging is not only a great way to share but a way for me to sort my thoughts on topics, I thought a post would force my thinking a bit.

At this point, I have identified 10 different categories for personal messaging:

1. Email

• Corporate (Exchange/Domino environments)
• Webmail (free services like Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo! mail)
• 'Site mail' (closed network email like Facebook or LinkedIn mail)
• Email services (outbound where you can assign a "From" like email marketing systems)
  

2. Text messaging

• From a device
• From a browser
• From a system
  

3. Instant messaging

• Stand alone apps like AIM or Trillian
• Inside webmail like Gmail
• Site IM (like Facebook)

4.  Content sharing/distribution (Slideshare, Youtube, etc.)
5.  Blogs (includes web pages, RSS feeds, and comments)
6.  Wikis and other collaborative spaces (closed/invitation only)
7.  Micro-blogging (Twitter including its direct message capabilities)
8.  Voice (includes POTS, VOIP, and cellular)
9.  Video (new like Gmail feature)
10. Other social networking tools/sites (a laundry list of options here including Facebook, MySpace, etc.)

I'll follow up with a post around the twelve or so factors to consider when selecting one method over the other.