Instant Messaging (AOL, MSN, Yahoo, Trillian)

Instant Messaging is becoming more and more popular in the workplace.  It started as a way for groups of strangers to get together and chat about certain subjects and was a popular feature with early ISPs like Prodigy and AOL.  Now it is becoming one more medium to add to corporate communications.  Face to face, telephone, fax, cell phone, PDA, video conference, email and now IM (Instant Messaging).  IM allows you to open a window on another users computer and type messages back and forth between two or more people.  It is great for quick question and answer dialogue when the Q&A is so short that IM is faster than picking up a phone.  It is often used as a private line for reaching people who don’t normally pick up the phone because they get too many calls.  Because of the instant access many people are careful to give their IM screen name only to a select few people or only to fellow employees.  AOL, MSN, Yahoo, and ICQ are the most popular Instant Messaging services.  They are all free to use and there are other options as well.  You can only IM between people who are signed up for the same service.  As the popularity grows you may find that some people you want to IM are on one service, say AOL, and others are on a different service, say MSN.  Trillian is software made by Cerulean Studios that allows you to combine AOL, MSN, Yahoo and ICQ into one application.  You can download a free copy at www.ceruleanstudios.com.