My advice would be to use whatever means you feel most comfortable with
to be in touch with relatives,

Some members will never be enticed into cooperating with you for two very
significant reasons. Number one,they think you are about to "Put the
touch on them." Translated that means they think you are about to ask
them for money. Number two, here you are, coming out of nowhere, asking
personal questions about their family, whereabouts, what they do, where
they work, who they're related to and other personal things. We live
today in a very mistrusting and dangerous world and in many ways I don't
blame them for being cautious. As much as I love the genealogy of my
family, I would be hesitant today in giving out personal information via
an email, as you suggest. How does one know this is a legitimate request
by a stranger communicating over the internet? Times have changed
unfortunately for us "history gatherers" and it will get worse as time
goes on.
Do you want to increase your chances of being successful? It may take
a face-to - face meeting to accomplish the task. I started 20+ years
ago gathering up relatives and history. It wasn't easy then for the two
reasons stated above. It's a lot more difficult today.
Good luck...........you'll need it.
Dr. Larry Gaum
Toronto, ON.