Do you use Instant Messengers (IM)? How many instant messengers you have installed in your computer? How much time you spend chatting with your coworkers, friends, families and clients?

If you ask me, I use FOUR - Google Talk, Skype, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo! Messenger. I use instant messengers to find project status from my developers, communicate with my clients, chat with my friends and families. I use IM a lot. Not only me, more than 200 million people are now sending instant messages through software from Microsoft’s MSN Messenger and Windows Messenger services, America Online, Yahoo! and other providers. At businesses large and small, more and more people are using it as a communications tool.

Today, I am starting a new series of posts about Instant Messaging (IM). In this post, I will discuss only some of the advantages of IM. In my future posts, I will discuss more about IM trends, its security issues, problems and also some tips using IM in business communications.

Instant messaging (IM) has become a very popular way to communicate with clients and coworkers, and for good reason. Communicating over the Internet in real-time can streamline communications and save your time and money. Plus, since most instant messaging software is free, you don’t need to invest more money for using it. As most of the companies becoming comfortable with offshore development, outsourcing, telecommuting and home-based workers, they are finding that IM ties their staffs, offshore partners and clients together and binds distributed project teams from different part of the geographical coordinates. And its corporate popularity is on the rise these days.

There are several reasons for the growth of IM use in business:
1. Workers have become more mobile and a lot harder to track down. You want to know when someone is actually at his or her desk.

2. You can IM someone halfway across the planet and get an immediate response.

3. Convergence of voice and video with IM. Most instant message services now also support voice conversations as well as video.

4. Save on long distance. Using instant messaging to communicate with employees and clients in other parts of the world can reduce long-distance communication costs.

5. Real-time communication: When you work on a project with coworkers who have busy schedules or work in different offices, instant messaging facilitates quick and simple communication. Unlike e-mail, when you use an instant messenger you don’t have to wait for messages to download from a mail server.

6. Reduce spam. Instant messengers get a lot fewer unwanted messages than e-mail so far.

7. Host chats and conferences. Although instant messengers are most commonly used for two-way conversations, most programs offer a conference or chat setting where your work group can meet at the same time.

8. IM offers real-time features and the ability to track someone down no matter where they are located. These features have attracted customers, partners and suppliers who need a guaranteed method of communication.

As an example, take an e-commerce sites, which offers IM features to its potential customers looking for its products. Site merchant can resolve the questions of the customers. It significantly increases the sales and closing deals online.
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