![]() Mac), Live Journal, Bonjour, MySpace IM, Facebook Chat, Lotus Sametime, Novell Groupwise, QQ, and Gadu-Gadu to name most of them. In addition to AIM, you can send and receive IMs through these services: MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, ICQ, Google Talk, Jabber, MobileMe (formerly. This is particularly useful if you've asked for directions to do something or if you need to save the conversation to document what was discussed.ĪOL's Instant Messenger (AIM) isn't the only IM service and, with the exception of AOL's IM client, most of the clients can communicate with many of the other services. Most of the IM clients offer the ability to record both sides of the conversation. So IM fills a niche in the "urgent-but-not-and-emergency" category.Īnother advantage IM offers is logging. For routine messages, I'll send an e-mail, knowing that the recipient will read it sometime the same day. Then there's a choice: I can send an IM, which allows the recipient to respond without interrupting the phone call ("available in 5"), or I can walk to the recipient's office. ![]() Higher priority concerns will cause me to pick up the phone, but the person I'm calling may already be on the phone. The next level down would be an IM, a phone call, or both. It's hard to ignore a fat guy in the doorway. Immediately below that, for something that's mission critical, I may walk to someone's office or cubicle and stand there until I'm recognized. If the building is on fire, I'll stand up and shout "Fire!" Consider that the most urgent level of communication. I still wonder about it when I see IM being used that way. I would watch kids spend 20 minutes sending and receiving instant messages and wonder why they didn't just pick up the phone and have a 1-minute conversation with the person they were chatting with. That's because of the way it was used in the early days. I'll admit that initially I didn't see much use for IM. But there's also a bit of frustration involved. Mac users have the widest choice of powerful applications, but there's a powerful IM client that will be right for you regardless of the type of computer you use. IM fits well into the mix of available means of communication and there's no shortage of IM clients to choose from. In the office, IM can be a quick way to communicate with co-workers or with family members at home or elsewhere. Some people wouldn't touch instant messaging with a detached keyboard, while others use it almost constantly. A Frustrating Variety of Instant Messaging Clients
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