Is Skype the new email?

It’s an odd thought, I know, but I find myself sending and receiving Skype messages as if they’re email. What I mean is that I’ve started sending and receiving messages, using Skype’s Instant Message features, where I don’t expect a response right away (if at all).

In fact, I’ve started sending messages to people who are Offline, because I know they’ll get them when they come on!

Whenever I log on, I find these types of messages as well. Many are responses to blog posts, some are little “hey, can you send x file” and a handful are just “hey, haven’t talked in a while, wanted to know I was thinking about you” type messages.

I think this is very cool. Anyone else experiencing this? What do people think about the practice?

I know I wouldn’t want to get hundreds of these every morning, but it’s certainly an interesting new use of the medium.