IM keeps on growing … Within Microsoft we often talk about the “Net-generation” that is entering the workplace now and in the coming years; that will certainly give a boost to the need for Enterprise IM, as this is the way the Net-generation communicates …
…Close to 12 billion instant messages are being sent every day worldwide, according to IDC. ComScore Media Metrix reports that there are more than 300 million people across the globe — and more than 80 million Americans — who regularly use instant messaging as a quick and convenient communications tool. …
…A national survey released today indicates that instant messaging (IM) has grown 19 percent since last year and is penetrating the United States market as deeply as e-mail — with many Americans sending as many, if not more, IMs than they do e-mails.
‘Deeply Entrenched’
Instant messaging (IM) is “now deeply entrenched in the U.S.,” Krista Thomas, a spokeswoman for AOL — based in Dulles, Va. — told TechNewsWorld.Multiple screen names and rampant “away messaging” are standard across all regions, sexes and ages, she added.
Top-line survey findings include the following:
- Thirty-eight percent say they send as many or more IMs than e-mails, and the younger users are, the more likely they are to favor IM. Two-thirds of teens and young adults say they send more IMs than e-mails, up from 49 percent last year.
- More than half of teens surveyed say their parents now issue guidelines and rules about instant messaging. Teen boys are more likely to have parental IM rules than are teen girls, and fully 65 percent of teens who have rules say they follow them.
- One in three IM users send mobile IMs or text messages from their cell phones at least once a week. This is a dramatic increase over 2004, when just 19 percent said they do so, and 2003 when the figure was 10 percent.
- At-work IM users now send IMs to communicate with colleagues, to get answers and make business decisions and even to interact with clients or customers. Twelve percent have used IM at work to avoid a difficult in-person conversation.
Found at : eCommerceTimes
