Is it time for IM to go?

Last month I asked this question about blogs and today it hits me that maybe it’s time that instant messaging faded into the background.

IM used to be a huge part of my communications toolbox. When I was a PC user, I had Trillian loaded up so I could use MSN, AIM, Yahoo! and IRC. As time went by, I trimmed a little fat and went with MSN and AIM, since most of my Yahoo friends had accounts on these platforms as well. I got rid of IRC because I just didn’t use it anymore.

When I switched to Mac I loaded up Adium so I could have MSN and AIM once again, but I noticed that I was keeping MSN support for only one person. Everyone else had moved to AIM. Adding to the fact that Adium did not support voice or video chat, I wanted to ditch it in favor of iChat.

But that one friend remained. I began bugging him to dump MSN in favor of AIM, telling him that all the cool kids were doing it. Eventually he caved and I was able to dump Adium (and MSN) altogether.

Now, almost all my IM friends are on Twitter. We do all our sharing and direct communications there. I’d consider leaving iChat turned off if it weren’t for the three people on AIM who don’t have Twitter profiles.

Do I start harassing them to move on to newer technologies, or again am I being too hasty? For one thing, I certainly can’t get video chat directly in Twitter. I’d have to use U-Stream.TV or Qik, but those technologies are one-sided. Direct messaging on Twitter isn’t near as quick and easy as IM, and lately it’s been a little flaky anyway.

So, no. I don’t think it’s time for IM to go just yet. In fact, I think IM probably has a few good years left in it before it gets completely replaced.

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Published:
08.22.08 / 12pm
Category:
Interweb, Social Media, Technology