What Do You Use Instant Messaging For?
For the majority of online users, most have heard of and even used instant messaging on a regular basis, but oftentimes, they use it for different reasons. There are three main reasons why online users regularly take part in instant messaging conversations:
- Work: This could easily be the biggest reason why online users use instant messaging. Many offices allow employees to use instant messaging to communicate during the workday, even if it’s to a co-worker only a few cubicles away. Instant messaging can increase productivity because it allows workers to multitask and prevents them from leaving their desk as often, which may lead to getting distracted.
- Personal Communication: The second biggest reason why users use instant messaging is to communicate with friends, significant others, and loved ones. This is especially true for users that are in a long-distance relationship or have close friends and family that are not located in the same city as them. Communicating via instant messenger is a good way to stay in touch with people whom a user doesn’t get to see as often as they’d like.
- Meeting New People: When AOL Instant Messenger first came about, chat rooms and using IM programs to meet new people online was very popular. While this is still sometimes the case today, many people prefer to meet new people through social media networks or other types of communication mediums because IM and chat rooms.








