Anyone else catch the article from today’s Journal about the invasion of instant messenger in the workplace? It was in a new pull-out section called "We think you’re dumb. And considering that this is a newspaper, and you can’t leave comments, you’re really in no position to prove us wrong."

Ohbabyitsbess: hey…when you’re back from your abs class, I have a ?

UKKeith14: yo, I’m here, took the early morning one, my obliques are BURNING

Ohbabyitsbess: cool, you can eat without punishing yourself today! Anygay…my ? is this—when you were at JP Morgan, did you use IM much?

Ohbabyitsbess: like, as in, instant messenger? IM?

UKKeith14: que?

Ohbabyitsbess: what we’re doing right now…?

UKKeith14: what’s instant messenger?

Ohbabyitbess: Instant-messaging programs allow users to organize contacts into "buddy lists" and see who is online and available to chat at any given moment, world-wide. With most IM programs, users can start real-time conversations with one or more contacts, including multiple participants simultaneously. Sending a message opens up small windows on the participants' screens where users can type their chats. Most programs also offer file-sharing, voice and video features. IM can be used on computers and on wireless devices like cellphones. Many employees use popular consumer-level IM applications, such as AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

UKKeith14: I’m not following...wait, let me grab a protein shake

Ohbabyitsbess: ok...say you had a bar chart that was the wrong color scheme and needed to make things right. if you had to rely on email and phone to fix the problem, it would've taken several weeks, as opposed to just IMing your associate and getting R'd real time instead of going back and forth with mark-ups, and you could rectify things w/in the hour.

UKKeith14: oh. we had an in-house program to do that.

Ohbabyitsbess: ok but if you didn't. you could just do it on IM

UKKeith14: what's IM

Ohbabyitsbess: what we're talking on right now

UKKeith14: what are we talking on right now

Ohbabyitsbess: Instant-messaging programs allow users to organize contacts into "buddy lists" and see who is online and available to chat at any given moment, world-wide. With most IM programs, users can start real-time conversations with one or more contacts, including multiple participants simultaneously. Sending a message opens up small windows on the participants' screens where users can type their chats. Most programs also offer file-sharing, voice and video features. IM can be used on computers and on wireless devices like cellphones. Many employees use popular consumer-level IM applications, such as AOL Instant Messenger and Yahoo Messenger.

UKKeith14: ok, but what's the diff between email and IM?

Ohbabyitsbess: Unlike email, instant messaging offers "presence" -- a snapshot of which colleagues are available at a given moment, world-wide. Together with allied Internet technologies such as blogs and wikis, it is "changing the way people collaborate," says Andrew McAfee, an associate professor at Harvard Business School. Companies "increasingly react to situations and problems on the fly, not solely by hierarchy," he says.

Jfcarney has invited you to Thirty, Flirty and Dirty

Jfcarney: guys

Jfcarney: GUYS

Jfcarney: I’ve brought you here to discuss 2 things- 1. Lindsay Lohan’s second DUI and b. what I believe will be today’s answer to the Crash of ’29. I’m about to move into my safe zone where I’ve stock piled bottles of water, but, unfortunately, don’t get much wireless. So this is goodbye for now, possibly forever.

Instant Messaging Invades the Office [WSJ]