• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, September 28, 2010

That's how OMMA publishing track moderator Dan Ambrose opened things up this afternoon, noting that, "A lot of people are focused on social media" these days as a way of spreading their content and message.

But Ambrose, a digital publishing veteran who is currentlyManaging Partner, ambro.com, corp., says email is really the "original social media."

Why? "Because it is so easy to email to friends," he explained.

His panel seemed to agree. Nate Richardson, president of Gilt City, pointed out that it does have its "generational" limitations.

"The millennials are probably more likely to be on Facebook than to check their emails," he noted. "As you look to grow your audiences with younger demographics, it's really important to look at how they're engaging."

"I really don't care about email. I really don't care about social media. I care about what is the best way to interact with my consumer,"  added Sean Smyth, senior vice president –business development at Groupon, noting, "It just so happens that my best path is sending 13,000 emails to people to get them to click on something."

Smyth concurred with the generational divide issue, noting that, "I turns out that older ladies like to use emails. Other people like different things."

"Email is just one tactic. It turns out to be a very, very good tactic," he added.