There is no doubt websites such as MySpace and Facebook have become popular extremely fast. People connect to friends and make new ones to keep track with what their doing in their lives, through more accessible means. But has the increased use in social networking had a negative effect on instant messaging?
For me, yes. I no longer use Windows Live Messenger daily, nor do I spend much time on it at all. I've noticed my friends have adopted the same approach, they prefer to check out new photos and comments on Facebook rather than logging in and waiting to chat to friends. Then again, I have been more busy in recent times, and I spend less time on my computer altogether.
According to Nielsen Online, the time British web users spent using MSN/Windows Live Messenger in April 2008 matched the number of minutes spent on Facebook: 2.4 billion. While that's a whopping increase for Facebook (coming from 500 million in April 2007), it's a considerable loss for Messenger that still accounted for 3.2 billion minutes in the same month last year.
Alex Burmaster, internet analyst at Nielsen Online, defines it as a relatively rapid "seismic shift" from Instant Messaging to communication through social networks. IM in general appears to be over the hill (total minutes were down from 3.9 billion to 2.9 billion) and clearly losing ground to social networking (minutes up from 2.4 billion to 3.7 billion).
Alex Burmaster, internet analyst at Nielsen Online, defines it as a relatively rapid "seismic shift" from Instant Messaging to communication through social networks. IM in general appears to be over the hill (total minutes were down from 3.9 billion to 2.9 billion) and clearly losing ground to social networking (minutes up from 2.4 billion to 3.7 billion).
To top things off, Facebook have now get their own instant messaging system usable from every page within the website. It is convenient and easy to use, but I never use it. So have you noticed yourself using Messenger less and social networking more?
>> Source: mess.be - "Facebook catches up with Windows Live Messenger in UK"
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