15 Comments to “ Question: Do you prefer using e-mail over instant messengers? .” Please leave a comment below, thank you.

1. # 1
   Jess :
   ( August 13th, 2007 at 3:32 am )

   I don’t email very often, but I’m so grateful for email in regards to some friends that I can’t keep in touch with often. I’d fallen out of touch a primary school friend who I was heaps close to, as well as another friend who was really close, and lately the only means of contact we have is emails. Though I still wish we could chat on instant messengers (more time to chat, responsive, nicer fun environment), though real life would be the best.

   Otherwise generally I like instant messengers. You get your point across, and if not, you can explain it straight away, instead of having the other person think for day what you meant or misinterpreting you.

   (By the way, how come you wrote 4 benefits, 4 drawbacks, even though it’s actually 5? o_O)



2. # 2
   jerine :
   ( August 13th, 2007 at 8:35 am )

   im a lazy pig when comes to replying message. you know that… email would be better for me.



3. # 3
   Essen, Essen, Susaneck, & Cohen, P.A. :
   ( August 13th, 2007 at 2:45 pm )

   Email is enough for me. It can get to be too much with all of the IM’s flying back and forth when you have several people IMing you.



4. # 4
   Mallory :
   ( August 14th, 2007 at 5:39 am )

   I prefer email to phone. I also prefer email with people I don’t know very well. Especially in business. At work, having email is having proof of when/what was said and is easily accessible for reference. It also allows more information to be shared. The only drawback to email is that some people (my boss) don’t understand how to actually write a good email and use it as a slow form of instant messenger. I prefer instant messaging over email with people I know. It’s more natural, like a conversation. It’s a bit awkward to talk over instant messenger in a business situation, when they’re you’re boss and they’re using netspeak. XD



5. # 5
   LGR :
   ( August 14th, 2007 at 9:59 am )

   I prefer email to IM most of the time. I can’t get anything done with an IM running, it is just to distracting. Besides, most people can’t type in IM so I get a headache from trying to decode what they are actually trying to say. In email people usually spell check and make complete sentences. Schools really need to teach typing again so kids learn how type properly.



6. # 6
   Michael :
   ( August 14th, 2007 at 2:14 pm )

   I hate using IM because whenever I log on 20 people start IMing me and it is really annoying, especially when I just want to check if someone is online and tell them something real quick. Instead of IM or email I actually prefer to use sms to talk to someone.



7. # 7
   Adult :
   ( August 15th, 2007 at 9:48 am )

   Yes I hate IM - I find it a pain in the A$$ - I will only IM somone if the conversation needs immediate attention. Other wise I use email.



8. # 8
   Vics :
   ( August 15th, 2007 at 5:12 pm )

   These days I actually use twitter more than anything else. I’ll only use msn if I need walking through something and email for clarification purposes, though I’m more likely to use the facebook private message function for that than an actual email..

   I’m seriously considering declaring email bancruptcy.. It’s all the rage dontcha know



9. # 9
   eve :
   ( August 16th, 2007 at 9:19 am )

   I am email only, I hate using messenger, they just seemed to come at the exact moment I got started on a project! So now I only use it to talk to my husband at work, and I always ‘appear offline’ LOL



10. # 10
    Bes :
    ( August 23rd, 2007 at 10:32 am )
    

    Jess, thanks for the comment.

    Some times people do not know how to communicate via the online world, and they assume that they know how to communicate in person. Thus, when they meet someone in person, they still have issues.

    Instant messengers do help in getting the point across. They have benefits, like being clear and upto the points at times, and they also have bad points, like letting own personal communication issues and frustration run onto other people and not feeling sorry about it.

    I have fixed the typo and changed the “4” points headings above to say “5.” Thanks.

    Jerine, thanks for coming and commenting. Long time no see.

    Heh, ok, so you prefer e-mail. I am guessing the amount of things you have to do in the offline world plays a very important and huge role in making such a choice, specially for you?

    Miami DUI lawyer - aka Essen, Essen, Susaneck, & Cohen, P.A., thanks for the comment.

    For your comment, were you referring to your business communication or personal communication? Having several IM’s can indeed influence the effective focus that one may want to give to all people chatting with them, if they really want to give everyone a lot of equal focus.

    If you do not mind, I have changed your comment name to your site’s business name, since there was also someone else using the same username “Miami DUI Lawyer” for their comment.

    Mallory, thanks for coming and for the comment.

    E-mail can indeed provide a more written proof of things said than a phone call that is not recorded and verified.

    You are right about some people not knowing how to write e-mails and treating it like an instant messenger. Sure, information friends can do that, but overall, each medium can have drawbacks and benefits if used in specific manners. Also, instant messengers can sometimes be awkward, yes, the same way communicating in person in similar environments may be awkward.

    So, if I understand your comment correctly, you:

    1 : Prefer e-mail to phone for people you do not know well
    2 : Prefer instant messaging over e-mail for people you know

    Do you prefer the phone or instant messaging for the people you know?

    Thanks for sharing and the examples.

    LGR, thanks for the comment.

    IM’s do get distracting sometimes. Also, when you say “most people can’t type in IM“, are you referring to people not knowing how to express themselves, or people not knowing what kind of communication, formal or informal, is suited for what kind of a situation?

    I guess people are not using their spell checkers that much anymore, because misspellings are even considered cool on many social networking sites?

    Thanks for sharing LGR.

    Michael, thanks for the comment, and thank you for coming here. I really appreciate it.

    That is a good example and a good point. I use SMS a lot, almost every few hours or minutes on many days. Going online can sometimes draw unwanted attention, and I have sometimes noticed that some people may get offended if you do not talk to them for a while when logging onto some instant messenger.

    Since you said you prefer sms to IM, what about people you know only online and thus you may not have their SMS number? Do you prefer e-mail in that case, to avoid that annoying nature of IM’s that you mentioned?

    Adult, thanks for the comment.

    If you need to IM someone, what happens if they are offline? Do you e-mail them then, or do you prefer offline IM messaging, like the ones that Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger provide?

    Also, a question: do you think we can find some other username than “Adult” for your comment please? I have a few other commentors also trying to use the same keyword, and it can be better if we have something else to be able to identify people more accurately. What do you think?

    Vics, thanks for the comment. I really appreciate it.

    That’s interesting; I think I have not used Twitter much [cannot remember], though I see it on an increasing number of sites. Do you actually communicate with others via twitter, or do you just leave status updates on it?

    “email bancruptcy“; that’s funny. Also, what about people you may want to communicate with who do not have facebook? Or does everyone you know have facebook?

    eve, thanks for coming and commenting. I really appreciate it.

    So, if I am understanding your comment clearly, IM can waste your time as people may send you IM’s when you do not have time to talk?

    Heh, appearing offline and appearing invisible is an art I think. At least you have a solution for the problem. Sometimes, like Michael said above, I will log in and immediately get someone or some people’s IM’s, and thus it becomes like an obligation in some people’s minds that I have to respond, even if I do not have time. I can tell friends that I do not have time, but non-friends, I have to explain things to them and spend some time before leaving.

    So for you, e-mail is the way to go, I see.

    Thanks again for sharing.



11. # 11
    Stefan :
    ( October 24th, 2007 at 3:54 pm )

    I use Instant Messaging at my work.
    It is very convenient when I need to consult with someone. Juts a quick discussion to clarify project details. It is much faster and convenient than exchanging e-mails for several days

    Of course, I prefer e-mail to document important discussions. The e-mail communication is also convenient when you need some time to reply back. For example if I need some time for additional research.

    Instant Messaging has one big disadvantage that was mentioned by some people here. If you use a public IM you might get distracted by constant non-business chats and messages. I suffered from this for several years. I was almost unable to work because many friends wanted to say “hello” at the middle of the day. There are also spammers on the public IM networks - people that send you advertisement messages.

    One day we found this site http://www.HostedInstantMessaging.com. We decided to try and installed a corporate instant messenger provided by http://www.Brosix.com

    They give us a private IM network and only colleagues can use it. So, I am contacted only by colleagues and we improved our productivity. No spam messages, no non-business chats, no viruses and no troyans sent by unknown people.

    That’s a brilliant idea. Now we benefit from using IM in our work and at the same time we are secured from the threats of public IM



12. # 12
    Bes :
    ( October 31st, 2007 at 1:52 am )
    

    Stefan, thank you for the comment and for sharing the sites.

    Instant messaging is indeed faster. Today I was sitting in a lounge waiting on some friends and I went on MSN Messenger on my phone and quickly asked a few things to a friend who was in another county about 600 miles away. I signed out within 5 minutes, and we both communicated the things we needed to. E-mail can indeed be a time consuming process.

    For important things, e-mail does outshine many other protocols so far, except snail offline mail in most, if not all, cases.

    Regarding spammer, I keep getting added by spammers/unknown-porn-link-promoters on yahoo messenger repeatedly, resulting in me going through a weird conversation, trying to find out why this person is talking to me, only to find in the end the person wants me to visit an affiliate url which will give some site more visits and this person referral credit or money.

    Thanks for the information on those sites, by the way. So basically, you have complete privacy, and it is on a closed, private network, right? Such methods can be very good, and I wonder when they will enter the personal world. Yes, it is indeed a very nice idea of being able to use IM that is available and visible only to other people within the same organization. A 100% work-related instant messaging session, in theory, can be very nice. I see that they charge by groups of 10 people in a subscription block: how is their support?

    I am guessing you do not IM or e-mail to non-work related people at work, or something similar?



13. # 13
    Stefan :
    ( October 31st, 2007 at 2:06 am )

    Hello Bes,

    Generally, we don’t need their support because the system just works
    In the rare cases we contacted them, they responded in reasonable times.

    > I am guessing you do not IM or e-mail to non-work related people at work, or something similar?

    Spam is annoying. We use anti-spam filters but we still receive lots of spam e-mails. But with the Brosix IM we do not receive any spam messages.



14. # 14
    Bes :
    ( November 4th, 2007 at 12:53 pm )
    

    Thanks for the answer Stefan. That is nice to know; usually on corporate networks seeking support becomes the main priority of many departments. If it works nicely and support isn’t needed much, that can be better than having support ready to assist us. May I ask where you work, or which industry?

    So basically your communication via Brosix IM is spam-free at the moment. Do your company still use e-mail for any communication, or has everything moved to the IM?



15. # 15
    Leonardo Zuluaga :
    ( May 25th, 2008 at 8:13 pm )

    Hi friend.., I prefer using instant messanging in my life because is more convenient for me.

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