Will IM ever replace e-mail?

[gusmahler]

Some articles (such as this one) suggest that many users are using Facebook/myspace type communities instead of email. I know that is true of my son, (sophmore in college), who doesn't even bother giving out his email address or respond to emails--he communicates to his friends via Myspace/facebook.

The original thought was that, as those high schoolers and college students graduate and enter the "adult" world, they'll stop using "adolescent" communications mediums (IM, facebook) and start using the accepted standard of e-mail.

But this article and others I've read recently suggest that email is due to be replaced as a communications medium, even in the business environment.

Maybe I'm just in the wrong industry, but I certainly don't see it happening now. I don't know of a single co-worker in any of my last 3 jobs who used IM for business purposes. They all use e-mail. (In fact, none of my friends use IM for social purposes, either. Yet everyone I know has an email address.) The Tom's Hardware article suggests that some questions don't warrant the tediousness of writing an e-mail. I have no idea what the author means. To compose an e-mail, I open Outlook (which is always opened, but sometimes minimized) and click on the New button. To compose an IM, I open my IM client, click New and begin writing. What is the difference?

What are the advantages of IM over email? And will those advantages be enough to supplant the ubiquitousness of e-mail?

[Blarg]

I'm not a kid anymore, but I don't have a facebook or myspace and am not curious about anyone else's. I don't think that will change anytime soon for people out of their mid-20's or childhood, because IM via facebook or myspace offers zero advantages that we're interested. Seeing someone's visual scrapbook, or hanging around on a site full of them, does nothing for me.

E-mail does what I need, and I'm pretty sure most people I know have more than one e-mail address. One for work, and at least one for social stuff.

[jjshabado]

No. They serve two very different purposes. At work we use both IM and email. IM is good for quick questions and coordination issues. Email lets you go into more detail, and lets you reach a lot of people quickly. It also a lot easier to refer back to emails over IMs.

There is no way a significant number of businesses will allow myspace/facebook communication. Its not secure, it has a ton of distractions, and they can't trace it.

[Dominic]

I have no desire to be available in "real time" with anyone, so I do not use IM. I even hate it when people text me on my phone. If you want to tell me something either call me or email me, not this bastardized amalgamation of the two, dammit! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[dlk9s]

[ QUOTE ]
I know that is true of my son, (sophmore in college), who doesn't even bother giving out his email address or respond to emails--he communicates to his friends via Myspace/facebook.

[/ QUOTE ]

So all of his communications consist of "Thanks for the add!" and "Sup, sweetie? Miss you!" ?

[BadBoyBenny]

I think most large companies already have an internal IM system like Sametime. Everyone I work with uses the all 3 of phone, IM, or email depending on the situation. I don't think corporate email is going anywhere anytime soon.

[MrMon]

Texting on a phone seems like the stupidest thing ever. IM is slightly better, but I see no real reason for it. Must be a generational thing, in that I don't have the time to waste that texting and IM demands.

[mrkilla]

email is to IM like regular mail to the telephone. While it will replace some aspects of email it will never be able to replace it out right.

[jjshabado]

[ QUOTE ]
Texting on a phone seems like the stupidest thing ever.

[/ QUOTE ]

I more or less agree.

[ QUOTE ]
IM is slightly better, but I see no real reason for it. Must be a generational thing, in that I don't have the time to waste that texting and IM demands.

[/ QUOTE ]

IM is great because it has a quick turn around time without being completely intrusive. If I'm sitting at my desk and someone has a question for me that they want to know the answer to quickly they can IM me. But I get to choose exactly when I respond, so it doesn't break me out of whatever I'm working on as completely as say a phone call. Plus I can carry on an IM conversation while continuing other work, while a phone call gets my completely concentration.

[SL__72]

IM won't "replace" email, but I think email as it is today is going to have to change. The aspect of IM that is nice is that you only chat with contacts that you have added to your "buddy list." The problem with email currently is that spam is making it way more expensive then it should be, so I could see that kind of security being implemented for email somewhere down the line.

Also, I don't see how any "real time" constraints count against IM. It works better for "real time" conversations then email does but it works just as well for conversations that don't.