• by Larry Dobrow , September 1, 2004

The rapidly expanding canon of research on instant messaging grew once anew on Wednesday when the Pew Internet & American Life Project released its take on the surging medium. The report arrived a week after IM giant America Online chimed in with its second annual instant messaging trends survey.

The Pew study, however, specifically attempted to discern adult usage of instant messaging programs, as opposed to the more inclusive thrust of previous research. It revealed that 53 million American adults have instant messaged, and that more than 12 million use IM programs more frequently than e-mail. During an average day, around 15 million adults--29 percent of instant messengers--use IM. Adult IM usage is dominated by those in the 18- to-27 age bracket--62 percent of whom instant message and 46 percent who use IM programs more than e-mail.

"There had been a lot of policy things that kept [instant messaging] from moving forward, but we're past most of them," says Amanda Lenhart, a Pew research specialist and co-author of the report. "What we're seeing now is more use of it and more use of the features that have sprung up in the last 12 to 18 months."

Lenhart points to a handful of surprises among the study's findings. Pew found that IM conversationalists are using it more than ever before to communicate with people in close physical proximity--whether in the same classroom, house, or office. The organization also learned that workplace usage of IM was slightly lower than expected: 21 percent of IM users, or around 11 million American adults.

Lenhart attributes this mostly to confusion among employers about what to make of IM programs. "They just didn't know how to handle it," she explains. "Should they block it? Put certain limitations on it?" Lenhart expects in-office use of IM to rise now that more proprietary IM programs have begun to increase in popularity. "They have more security features and make businesses feel more secure." Not surprisingly, Pew found that workplace IMers boast higher levels of income and education than home users.

Such data, combined with the prevalence of instant messaging, would suggest that there should be plenty of motivation for advertisers to pursue a greater presence within the IM world. But while Lenhart understands why marketers might want in--frequency and duration of use top the list of reasons--she questions how IMers might react. "They hate spim [IM spam]. And really, it's only a small box, so where can you go within that?"

Despite the study's finding that 51 percent of IM users have received an unsolicited message from an individual they didn't know, Lenhart doesn't believe that IM programs will ever be corrupted to the extent that e-mail has. Users must be logged into IM before they can receive anything, while anti-spim/invasiveness controls are built into most IM programs.

"You can set it up where you only get messages from people you've approved or get a notification before somebody not on your list can send you something," she notes. "Maybe that's the reason we're seeing some users being driven more towards IM. It's positively spam-free when compared to e-mail."