04
2008
Instant messaging
Instant messaging is absolutely the greatest work tool that has been invented since email. It is also one of the most disruptive forces in the workplace if abused for personal use.
I have 3 instant messaging accounts, with MSN, AOL and ICQ. I had a yahoo IM account but I never used it. The reason I have 3 IM accounts is that I have business partners in different areas around the world who all seem to use different IM accounts, so I had to have 1 of each. Other than business relationships I IM with my spouse fairly frequently, although we could just shout at each other from across the house as we both work from home and I occasionally IM with my mom who has AOL IM. Before I was married IMing with my spouse was a distraction from work as it was mostly, “how is your day?”, “how is yours” and all that lovely dovey stuff (I know I did not share the juicy parts but you really dont want to hear them do you?).Instant messaging is so easy and so efficient when it comes to doing business that I think it is more effective than the phone. I do negotiations by IM, conferences, followups, test support departments you name it and I can do it by IM. Now I am not saying that Instant messaging should completely replace the phone for negotiations or email for sending contracts and such but it is a very efficient tool for connecting with a business partner quickly and getting in their face without really getting in their face via phone where you feel the need to chit chat. You can ping someone and when they have a moment they can respond to you and you can have the answer from the person whom you were looking for whatever answer you were wanting answered. That last sentence was a little weird but you get the gist of what I mean.
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