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A recent article on adults and lack of IM knowledge (Sametime included?)


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I saw this article from Conntact.com (a Connecticut newspaper's online site) in a Google alert but the tag lines caught my eye first.

Unlocking the Code: A Grownups' Guide to Instant & Text Messaging

So I thought to myself, they will do the usual drabble about abbreviations and stuff teenagers use, plus identify some messengers in it.  But it took a bizarre twist toward the corporate use for most of the article. Here is an example:
IMing has its place, but it's typically not the best medium for the "business end" of business. Not too many deals are being negotiated via IM, but it does have its place in the office.

"Some people swear by it and it has its place, but it's not for everybody," says Bill Thompson, vice president at NSI, a Naugatuck-based computer consulting and systems-integration company.

"I get the sense that it's being used more internally than externally to clients," says Thompson. "There may be some situations where you're in a high customer-service orientation where they want that instant feedback and organizations might authorize that under a secure environment, but I think it's used by more people who are internal to an organization."


As Thompson explains, there are choices for those looking for instant messaging capability. "Under a more specified environment such as Lotus Notes, you have to have your own server and would have to authorize access by people in the company or outside."

Hmm, true in many instances and those of us that breathe it run multiple systems for the outsiders.  With the proper auditing and usage it is for business needs and deals get done a lot over IM around here.  Papers get signed later, but deals get done.

But these same people quoted go on to say:
"Instant messaging, particularly in the business sector, is really only being adopted by people who are already and have been familiar with it for some time now: namely the 20-something crowd such as myself."

So all you older people stop using it now!!!!  You have no business using IM if you are over 30 apparently.