Friday, July 06, 2007
Instant Messaging Spreads the Word -- and Trouble
Making yourself available through instant messaging is one of the most effective means of marketing yourself. Sure, you can lose productivity by chatting about nothing, but I can count numerous times that I learned something through an IM chat that resulted in additional work opportunities for me.Research firm Gartner predicts that even the most cautious corporations will allow instant messaging by 2010.
This is one opportunity that social networking firms such as LinkedIn should take advantage of. Email is a great way to reconnect, but being able to opt-in to receive an instant message from a colleague while protecting your anonymity would be helpful.
However, you have to be careful in whom you allow into your inner circle as security firms say IM attacks are on the rise. MessageLabs says IM attacks increased 723 percent over last year, while FaceTime says IM attacks increased a modest 5 percent between the first and second quarters of 2007.
Yes, these companies have a vested interest in keeping you nervous about IM, but this data shows that IM needs to be at least as protected as email. A combination of smart software and careful use is needed for IM to be an effective marketing tool.
Posted By John Gartner at 09:51 AM
Permanent Link: Instant Messaging Spreads the Word -- and Trouble
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