I remember in my senior year of college, one of my Communications professors was predicting what would happen to society due to the overuse of Instant Messaging.  Her thoughts were that the world would become less formal, typos and acronyms would run supreme and people would actually stop talking to each other through traditional methods (phone, etc.)  This wasn’t a firm prediction with timelines, etc but more of her thinking out loud and looking to some of the people living off IM for their feedback.  Ultimately, the class laughed and told her she was off topic.

Now looking back – I’m beginning to wonder if she may have been on the right track. IM has certainly infiltrated the working world.  No longer is it simply a way for teenagers to chat without their parents overhearing them.   In PR, We use it internally, with clients and in some cases with reporters and analysts.  I’ll fully admit to being one of the last on board in bringing this tool to work.  In college it was a great tool for speaking with friends far away (when too cheap to pay long distance), speaking with people you didn’t want to actually speak with by phone, or simply using it as a message board when you were out having fun.  However, I admit to having had a hard time accepting it into the workplace.  

There are many reports on viruses and other dangers of bringing these communication tools into the office, but for me, it just seemed to have a lot of potential for disaster that had nothing to do with the technology itself.  My concerns were all related to social and professional concerns.  If you are on IM will it appear you aren’t working?  What if you send a message to the wrong person?

Although we are in the new era of social media and people are contributing to more forms of communications – are we actually declining in interpersonal communication?  People used to talk face-to-face, then they used the phone, from there email and now IM.  At a certain point we may never have to look at another person again, well, unless maybe it’s a Facebook page.  For PR specifically, a great part of our job is building relationships and being “personal” – what does this mean for us when we remove that piece from our job.  Can we build the same relationships with reporters via IM that we would have had over a phone conversation?  Will the business reporter stop talking to me if I issue a smiley face?

I know if I’m on a conference call, IM can be beneficial as I can still conduct business with my team as an alternative form of communication.  However, if your only interaction with your team is through IM can you truly learn from your managers/peers the way you would from a face-to-face tutorial?  I don’t think so.

I’m certainly not throwing this tool away or ceasing to use it – but would be curious to open this up to all of you.  What do you think about using IM at work? Helpful or troublesome?  I look forward to your thoughts and/or emoticons.