I've had experience of doing the email / text thing recently and have had the full range of responses.

I went to a summer school last year which due to my social anxiety was very difficult but at the end of the week, we got put into groups and I became friendly with 2 girls and a guy who I'd already become friendly with earlier in the week.

Anyway, I decided after that it would be nice to stay in touch. I sent an email to one of the girls there, just a friendly "hope we can stay in touch" type thing and got nothing back. That did hurt as we'd talked and walked together during the week and I thought had made a connection as friends but I just assumed she didn't feel the same way about me.

The guy I haven't emailed in a while but we've sent a few emails to one another. He lives a long way away and has a family so we don't have much in common but I know I can email him whenever I want and he'll email back so that's cool.

And the other girl, I emailed and she came straight back with a reply and we've now emailed on and off over the last year. I don't think she's interested romantically as could just tell from the tone of the replies. Although, I haven't asked her out or anything so could be wrong. But anyway, she just recently wrote to me after a few months to tell me some news and it felt good that she'd thought of me.

So I didn't make any close friends from that week but it did teach me that it's better to make the best of a situation rather than strive for something that isn't going to happen. I really do feel that even though I failed to make a close friend (which was what I was dreaming of) I managed to make the best of what happened so I have no real regrets. If I hadn't contacted any of those people I'd be wondering "what if?" which i know would hurt more.

Oh and just recently I casually asked a girl at work if she wanted to hang out. I did that in a very brief text. I was already friends with her and we talk at work daily but I didn't feel comfortable putting her in an awkward spot at work so asked her by text. She made it clear that it was a no on the romantic front but that it would be nice to hang out some time (I'm letting her take the lead on when as don't want to be pushy) we're still friends at work so I'm really glad I did it. I've felt very depressed since as I built my hopes up with her and thought something might happen but it has also cleared the air between us and although it's early days, may have strengthened our friendship.

Sorry for long reply but these are things I've been thinking about a lot lately and hope my examples help you. Make sure you do what's best for you.