The Thank You Note

Is the rule of a thank you note dead?

Weddings guests can now be invited to the formal day on facebook, twitter and myspace. Heck, we don't get the call anymore that people are engaged, we get the facebook status update. The day of gifting the toaster or blender is dead - now its fresh green cash we're stuffing into cards and throwing in a slit in a box. But with all this informality, is the thank you note being lost too? Can typing thank you on a facebook page or @ someone on twitter make up for receiving that little card in the mail addressed to you and opening it to find a hand written thank you for the gift and attending the wedding? Granted, we don't usually hang on to these notes, frame them, or put them in our memory boxes, but they're still nice to receive. I have been to 4 weddings this year so far and I can count 1 thank you note that I received. Not to mention the graduation parties that I gave money for - 2 - and the thank you notes I got - 0.

Is it an old time thing to write thank you notes now? Is it something that's considered optional and you don't really have to do it? Is standing up at a wedding and saying thank you enough now? Maybe I'm old school but I refuse to believe the thank you note is dead - it still lives on with this girl.