Word: instants
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...about--whether the candidates are promising continuity or change, bright contrasts or fine distinctions; whether it is about character or competence; whether the results will actually matter in most people's lives or just change the background music on the evening news while they go about multitasking and instant messaging and sorting the laundry and paying the bills...
Bing-bong-bong-bing! It began with countless computer kids tapping out chiming instant messages to their pals. Now, in a classic case of adults playing techno-catch-up, America's workforce is fast discovering the benefits of instant messaging too. An estimated 20 million employees, representing half of all big U.S. companies, routinely fire off pop-up missives in lieu of cumbersome conference calls or e-mail--which now seems as plodding as a telegram. "This is no longer about teenagers and chat," says John Patrick, vice president for Internet technology at IBM, whose Lotus Development unit produces Sametime...
...proprietary software like Sametime is just one reason why IM chimes are suddenly ringing throughout the workplace. Far more messages probably come from employees who have downloaded such programs as America Online's Instant Messenger (AIM) or the rival Yahoo Messenger, both of which are available free on the Internet. Workers aren't even waiting for information-technology departments to install a corporate system. "This is all spreading by word of mouth," says Neil MacDonald, a vice president of the Gartner Group research firm. "Companies weren't planning on instant messaging, but it's become a critical part of business...
...popularity, the IM world remains frustratingly balkanized. At least a dozen systems are in service in the U.S. alone, many of them incompatible. This confusion adds to the pressure on AOL--which popularized instant messaging and commands a 90% share of the market--to allow rivals like Yahoo and Microsoft access to its IM systems. These cover some 80 million users under the AOL brand and a similar number under ICQ, an Israeli company that AOL bought two years ago. Says MacDonald: "AOL's installed base is the crown jewels of instant messaging...
...their parents?" Given genetic predisposition, I expect my kids to develop a powerful aversion to any setting that smacks of a setup for a formal "talk." (I'm creeped out just imagining it, and I'm the parent.) Try informal chats to establish a connection, Wolvin suggests. Even the instant messages my daughter routinely sends ("hey mom how r u, school was good, g2g") can create a rapport that could prove useful during more, uh, delicate face-to-face conversations...