For a while I have been considering whether Instant Messaging could fill a communications gap I experience between email and telephone in the workplace.

I am too old to have grown up with Instant Messaging and have therefore, by habit, often relied on email. I decided to post a question on the LinkedIn Answers section to see if anyone else had some thoughts on this subject.

I had a strong sense that IM would be the right tool in terms of being a mixture of email while bringing the instant response that we are used to from telephone conversation. Also I hoped that the more transient nature of IM would make people more inclined to respond quickly.

Although I frequently manage to hit send before I meant to (and often have finished drafts that I had meant to send), email seems to make people think twice before they send something, and frequently not respond at all or respond after a while.

I have created the following list of pros and cons.

Pros:

• Ability to see if colleagues are online and thus not writing emails or phoning in vain
• Quicker when you need to have a quick consultation with someone
• Good for small talk or phatic communication (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phatic).
• Personally, I think this can be very important for building team spirit and cohesion.
• A little more informal than email which may generate more ideas.

Cons:

• Circumvents antivirus systems
• Could be a time waster – but as one person points out time wasters will waste time whatever tool you give them
• Not possible to document

See the full list of answers here:
http://www.linkedin.com/answers/business-operations/project-management/OPS_PRJ/116661-4119495