Connect immediately with friends and family through instant messaging
Instant messaging, instant messenger, live messenger, web cam, video messaging
Article Category: Internet & Communications
Learn about the benefits on Instant Messaging, and chatting through the internet. Stay in touch with your friends and family both in New Zealand and overseas for free with Windows Live Messenger.
I see my good friend Jennifer every five weeks or so — sometimes less. Between our busy careers and personal obligations, we can barely make the time for regular socialising. Despite our infrequent visits, we seem to keep up-to-date, although not through traditional methods. We communicate mostly through instant messaging (IM).
We are all trying to save time these days, and while IM does not replace human interaction, it does offer an ongoing opportunity to stay connected to family and friends for a few short moments daily.
E-mail has provided us with a way to communicate over distance and allows us to stay in touch regularly. But instant messaging takes this concept a step further by creating an atmosphere of instantaneous conversation that is both warm and yes, even engaging.
Mary, a grandfather of four, keeps in touch with his daughter through chat. "[We] are able to spend a little more quality time just the two of us, which we never were able to do before."
After canvassing a few IM devotees, I've realised that chat has all the appeal of e-mail — and more. While e-mail continues to serve its purpose, my fondness for IM is growing as I realise the benefits of this real-time medium. If you have never experienced instant messaging before, perhaps the following reasons will help you take the plunge.
Consider all the times you emailed someone a simple question. The pace of an IM conversation is vastly faster than email replies and only marginally slower than regular conversations.
"I use Windows Live Messenger a lot because it enables me to get answers from people quickly — be it personal or professional," says Jennifer, who recently gave away a football ticket to a person who sent her the first instant message.
With its ease and informality, instant messaging can be used for daily five-minute exchanges about the weather or longer conversations about love and life.
My friend Chris wishes more of her friends used chat software: "It would be so much easier to connect with them — even just to say hello."
Internet users often claim that e-mail has improved their bonds with relatives by increasing the frequency of communication and often replaces traditional contact, like the telephone.
Jennifer finds Windows Live Messenger to be particularly useful for keeping in touch with friends who are far away; "I regularly IM with people in London, Tokyo [and] Australia." Instant messaging is the online text equivalent to a telephone call, but without the long distance charges.
Studies show that many people find it easier to be frank over e-mail. What is difficult to say in real life somehow becomes easier through the computer.
I've often used a chat window to request, receive and administer advice on sticky topics or situations. Like the majority of people who believe that e-mail has improved communication with friends and family, I am convinced that IM has allowed me to get closer, faster, with my friends.
But chatting has some added advantages over e-mail. Even if you say something you later regret, IM conversations are more disposable than e-mail. While discretion should be used in any digital exchange, people rarely check message history or save chat conversations.
Chat strips out formalities. "[With] e-mail you actually have to put some effort into writing and addressing," says Jennifer.
Instant messaging closely resembles regular conversation and its immediacy by allowing the user to send short messages back and forth in real time. This similarity to regular conversation is what gives IM the biggest advantage over e-mail: chat gives you the feeling of actively participating in a conversation with someone.
Windows Live Messenger is the Microsoft instant messaging program, which also brings voice, and web cam abilities to online chat. It's freely available, and simple to use. Find out more about Windows Live Messenger here.
We are all trying to save time these days, and while IM does not replace human interaction, it does offer an ongoing opportunity to stay connected to family and friends for a few short moments daily.
E-mail has provided us with a way to communicate over distance and allows us to stay in touch regularly. But instant messaging takes this concept a step further by creating an atmosphere of instantaneous conversation that is both warm and yes, even engaging.
Mary, a grandfather of four, keeps in touch with his daughter through chat. "[We] are able to spend a little more quality time just the two of us, which we never were able to do before."
After canvassing a few IM devotees, I've realised that chat has all the appeal of e-mail — and more. While e-mail continues to serve its purpose, my fondness for IM is growing as I realise the benefits of this real-time medium. If you have never experienced instant messaging before, perhaps the following reasons will help you take the plunge.
Save time
Consider all the times you emailed someone a simple question. The pace of an IM conversation is vastly faster than email replies and only marginally slower than regular conversations.
"I use Windows Live Messenger a lot because it enables me to get answers from people quickly — be it personal or professional," says Jennifer, who recently gave away a football ticket to a person who sent her the first instant message.
With its ease and informality, instant messaging can be used for daily five-minute exchanges about the weather or longer conversations about love and life.
Stay connected over long distances
My friend Chris wishes more of her friends used chat software: "It would be so much easier to connect with them — even just to say hello."
Internet users often claim that e-mail has improved their bonds with relatives by increasing the frequency of communication and often replaces traditional contact, like the telephone.
Jennifer finds Windows Live Messenger to be particularly useful for keeping in touch with friends who are far away; "I regularly IM with people in London, Tokyo [and] Australia." Instant messaging is the online text equivalent to a telephone call, but without the long distance charges.
Get to the point — fast
Studies show that many people find it easier to be frank over e-mail. What is difficult to say in real life somehow becomes easier through the computer.
I've often used a chat window to request, receive and administer advice on sticky topics or situations. Like the majority of people who believe that e-mail has improved communication with friends and family, I am convinced that IM has allowed me to get closer, faster, with my friends.
But chatting has some added advantages over e-mail. Even if you say something you later regret, IM conversations are more disposable than e-mail. While discretion should be used in any digital exchange, people rarely check message history or save chat conversations.
Chat is, well, chatty
Chat strips out formalities. "[With] e-mail you actually have to put some effort into writing and addressing," says Jennifer.
Instant messaging closely resembles regular conversation and its immediacy by allowing the user to send short messages back and forth in real time. This similarity to regular conversation is what gives IM the biggest advantage over e-mail: chat gives you the feeling of actively participating in a conversation with someone.
Getting started
Windows Live Messenger is the Microsoft instant messaging program, which also brings voice, and web cam abilities to online chat. It's freely available, and simple to use. Find out more about Windows Live Messenger here.
