• by Seana Mulcahy , July 19, 2004

As a digital marketer, advertising and media person and consumer, one of the coolest elements about the online world, to me, is instant messaging (IM). If you know me, you know it is the easiest way to reach me. I'm known to IM when on the phone, reading email, or doing just about anything.

According to Webopedia, the definition for IMing is as follows:

Abbreviated IM, a type of communications service that enables you to create a kind of private chat room with another individual in order to communicate in real time over the Internet; analogous to a telephone conversation but using text-based, not voice-based, communication. Typically, the instant messaging system alerts you whenever somebody on your private list is online. You can then initiate a chat session with that particular individual.

While working in the agency world, IMing at work was a problem. First, there were the people who abused the technology by pinging their friends all day long. Then there were IT issues where the department would not support the software. Lastly, and the biggest issue, was viruses coming in by IM.

As online folks, I was able to obtain permission for my group to be able to access and use IM while at work. It enabled us to be more productive and keep up with the fast-paced demands of the online ad world.

One of the biggest problems of IM is that here have been 3 major players in the industry - AOL, Yahoo!, and Microsoft. To date, none of these messaging clients could "talk" together. Because of this, I've had to open up more than one account in order to reach my peers. Let's face it; everyone has a favorite. (I have stuck with AIM as my primary, being that it was the first to come out with the technology, and I really like my screen name.)

I was thrilled to bits to read the other day that AOL, Yahoo!, and Microsoft are teaming up to link their separate instant messaging services. This is the first time these giants are doing anything that will allow computer users at large to communicate with one another.

However, they are doing this for the workplace.

How does it work? Well, I'm sure you are aware of the fact that difference workplaces have different networks. In order for users to be able to chat with others, companies need to license new Microsoft software (what a surprise). The software acts as a hub that connects such services.

The new service will have cool features such as the electronic recording and saving of instant messages and the guarantee of secure communications.

The growth of IM has been phenomenal. Not only can users send and receive IMs on their computers, they can also do so on mobile phones and devices such as PDAs. AOL reports that more than 2 billion IMs are sent daily on its network, whereas 400 million emails are sent daily.

"This lays the groundwork for instant messaging to become as widespread and useful as email is today," Taylor Collyer, senior director of real-time collaboration marketing at Microsoft told The Washington Post last week. "If you can connect to everybody, it becomes more valuable. I believe this announcement will lead to that happening with instant messaging."

While I am excited about inroads toward partnerships, I am disappointed they don't go for the gusto here. Consumer IMing is also huge. Why can't we just have a space where anyone can IM anyone anywhere?

Consumers have made IMing what it is today. Then they brought the practice over to the workplace. It'll be interesting to see if companies will not only embrace such communication but also cough up licensing fees in order for employees to use it. According to Forrester Research, 45% of businesses had no plans for formalizing instant messaging this year.

The other negative I see is the way people communicate via IM. It is short hand and super fast. So many acronyms have come out of this today. It seems as if just about everything is abbreviated. I'm always on my employees in regard to their tone and informality in emails. I preach that an email should be written well and respectful. It should be casual. To me, IMing is the most casual. Many will think it will be hard to write in a business manner. TSTB is "the sooner the better." TTYL is "talk to you later." BRB is "be right back." Can you imagine some people keeping up with the lingo? What's your feeling on IMing in the workplace? How do you feel about this partnership? Do you use IM? If so is it as a consumer, business person or both? Hit me up on the Spin board. I'd love to here what you have to say.

TTFN