Tech Blog

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When was the last time you used IM? If you used something like MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, GTalk, Skype, etc even relatively recently, it seems that you're in the minority of Internet users. According to the BBC (via CrunchBase ), only 5% of British Internet users' online time was spent using IM, compare that to 14% in 2007. Hmm. Some folks are drawing the conclusion that IM is falling by the wayside and on a slow slide to death. I think this is just a mite over the top. To me I think this is a sign of technology maturing.

Your first question to me should surely be: Do you IM very much compared to a few years ago? That is an easy "no, I don't". Not long ago I was commonly using two or three IM client at once with a number of different people. Today, I keep on IM client open and only connected to GTalk. If I need Skype I'll open it. If I really need to I'll connect to MSN or Yahoo through Adium (which is what I use for GTalk). With that out of the way, now you're wondering how I can say that technology is maturing.

Here's the thing, Twitter, SMS, email are much (Twitter and SMS especially) are easier to bash out quick messages with than they were a little while ago. Frankly, Twitter DMs are one of my de-facto ways to communicate quickly with people. If I just need a short dash of a message, I'll DM it (I'm not a huge SMS user). However if I want to converse with someone who isn't in close proximity, I'll still IM. Face it, IM still let's you have a "conversation" that you can intersperse with reading emails, surfing the net, TV, etc. You can juggle and IM, DMs and SMS conversations are much more interruptive to me. They require changing gears. More than just changing apps or windows, they require changing mindsets.

Remember in 2007, Twitter wasn't a huge part or our lives yet and unlimited SMS plans weren't nearly as common as they are now. So now we can better tailor what we want to say to a technology that is best suited to it. Doesn't mean IM is dead, it just means that we don't need IM for what we used to use it for.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have DMs to catch up on.