Instant Messenger in the Workplace

Essay by Fisx1University, Bachelor's April 2004

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Instant Messenger in the Workplace

With the success and advancement of instant messenger services, there has been a rise in users and it has now become a mainstream form of communication like email. Being that instant messenger services have made a transition from recreational home use to a more professional use in the work place, I have set out to answer the question "Will instant messenger service increase or decrease efficiency in the workplace?" I will take a look at a couple of aspects surrounding its' use in the workplace in order to come to a conclusion.

From the very first time I used an instant messenger service way back in 1995, which was in the form of AOL Chat, I was hooked. I knew this was the wave of the future. Being able to write to someone anywhere in the world and have a reply in a matter of seconds was just the greatest thing since the invention of the internet.

I couldn't have imagined it getting any better, especially since the service was only twenty-one dollars a month for unlimited use. There were no long distance or per minute charges. There were two drawbacks to this, one is that if you didn't have an access number in your area you would incur long distance charges for the time you were on. The second drawback was that in order for you to chat with friends and family they would have to be subscribers to

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that internet service provider. Not anymore! Instant messenger services from AOL to ICQ are now free to use. On top of being a free service, you don't need to have a computer to use it! Cellular phones, PDA's and other mobile devices are now equipped to handle instant messenger services. So...