Recent news reveals that 2 million users in the US have quit Facebook, and I believe this comment on that very article sums it up best, which states verbatim:
Let’s hope this over blown hot fart of a bubble continues on it downward trend and common sense prevails once more
Well said.
Chances are you have at least a smattering of friends and/or family who only communicate with you through Facebook. When these people stop using Facebook (and they will), you’ll need another way to keep in touch with these people.
Generally speaking, people who are attention whores heavy Facebook users don’t use email hardly at all, but they do use cell phone texting quite a bit. That being the case, here are your options.
Option 1: Make sure anyone you actually care about knows your cell phone number
This is easy enough to do. Just give out your number to the people you want to stay in touch with, and also make sure you have their number(s).
Option 2: Use Google Voice
GV phone numbers in the US are free, and texting nationwide is free through GV. You may not get the area code you want, but hey, free is free, so don’t complain.
The two best parts are 1) You can easily configure every text sent to you as a forwarded message to your email, so you never miss a message, and 2) For the phone number you’re given, you can just give it out anywhere and not care. You could even post it publicly in your email signature, on your blog, etc.
I recommend GV to those who hate cell phone texting and prefer email (and there’s quite a few of you out there).
Option 3: Switch to Gmail for your email and use Gmail SMS
Important note: This service was just launched and it is not available in the US yet, although I’m sure it will be soon enough. For now, use the Google Voice service.
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