Comments on: Only 1 in 4 Uses IM at Work, Says Study

By: Cassie

Cassie — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:53:55 +0000

I use IM at work, and I know of only 2 other staffers in our dept who use IM (there are about 45 staffers total in our dept).

You can customize the IM settings so you are notified only when someone sends you an IM. Even when one of the other 2 sends me an IM, I sometimes just ignore it and continue with whatever I was doing. I may notice, but if I’m busy, I won’t click on the IM box.

I really like IM because it allows us to ask each other questions without being too intrusive. If you are on the phone with someone, and need to check on something – you can just send an IM and get a response quickly – without having to stop your phone call.

By: Corporate Culture, Not Technology, Drives Online Collaboration

Corporate Culture, Not Technology, Drives Online Collaboration — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 20:01:29 +0000

[...] 23rd, 2009 (1:00pm) Will Kelly No CommentsTweet This Recently, Simon reported on a couple of interesting studies looking at the use of collaboration technologies in the [...]

By: Project Pankaj

Project Pankaj — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:48:24 +0000

A technology like IM is perfect for distributed virtual teams that require a high degree of communication. I personally work with team members from across the US and Argentina on almost a minute to minute basis. IM provides the perfect balance between email, which is too slow, and audio communication, which can be too intrusive to do on an ongoing basis.

By: How to Convince Colleagues to Collaborate Online

How to Convince Colleagues to Collaborate Online — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:01:34 +0000

[...] among people who, whether they like it or not, work online. I’m sure you have, too — recent research has shown that collaborative technology hasn’t had as broad an impact in workplaces as we [...]

By: Invest in Collaborative Tools, Get More Than Double Return, Study Says

Invest in Collaborative Tools, Get More Than Double Return, Study Says — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 23:02:04 +0000

[...] 14th, 2009 (4:00pm) Simon Mackie No CommentsTweet This Last week, I reported on the surprisingly low numbers of American information workers using collaborative technology (just one in four uses IM at work, for example). Another study, released today, shows why [...]

By: ChrisB

ChrisB — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 06:33:07 +0000

@Don Risi
o.0 Dude.. IM has been around for ages. Used to be IRC, then it got all fancy, now IM is the main instant messaging communication device for the internet. Google cloud software (which I’d rank very low, btw. For too many reasons to start on now) is a whole lot more recent than IM is.

@MAC
If you need absolutely no distractions whatsoever, then you don’t need to go on about IM. Include phones, email clients, etc.

Note: IM clients always have settings to disable the “pinging”. Stop the flashing lights and sounds, auto respond with a message when you’re busy, etc.

By: TestShoot

TestShoot — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 19:26:16 +0000

That is to say, a lot more people would if they could.

By: Only 1 in 4 Uses IM at Work, Says Study | Conquer Self Before World

Only 1 in 4 Uses IM at Work, Says Study | Conquer Self Before World — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:52:31 +0000

[...] by iwan1979 on Oct.10, 2009, under Technology Only 1 in 4 Uses IM at Work, Says Study [...]

By: TestShoot

TestShoot — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:51:04 +0000

Firewalls thwart your statistics. 1 in 4? WRONG.

By: MAC

MAC — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 13:58:22 +0000

I believe IM in most business environments is extremely wasteful. I have it available to me but I turn it off because the constant pinging is very distracting.

As a software architect and developer, I am constantly trying to remain focused on the task at hand and am often juggling 10-20 different balls that all need to be properly addressed for the task to be successful. Even the subtle ping of an incoming request can make you drop some of those balls – say nothing of if you actually stop and pick up the IM. When you get that ping, you want to stop and see that email or IM. That, in turn, causes mistakes and poor productivity as you are continually trying to pick up the balls that are being dropped. Consequently, I simply turn IM off most of the time. And since turned off is the same as not having it, I don’t even start the client to conserve resources.

I extend my email pickup interval and turn off notifications for the very same reasons. I suspect that if other people don’t do the same, they just don’t know how.

IM does have it useful purposes however. For example, as long as you don’t allow it to be distracting, it is useful to be able to communicate with coworkers via IM to establish strategy changes while in sales calls.

I don’t think it’s hard to extrapolate my example to most other job descriptions; especially those involving complex tasks. Therefore, I am not terribly surprised by these figures.