Instant messaging as a substitution for email

IM is really taking off these days. This holds specially true for handheld devices with monthly data plans.  IM takes very little bandwith, and the amount of data transferred is minimal as well as long as file transfers are not initiated.

Clearly there are benefits in IM over email, especially if you are only "chatting" ie. exchanging short messages.  My employer offers MS Messenger for intranet connectivity, and I use it quite often with certain collegues.

But the true power of IM shows itself when a community is attached to it. The service evolves into Internet Relay Chat, IRC. When multiple people join the same channel and start expressing their views on the topic set for the channel, there is true conversation and media power present. Also, if you set up a screen to monitor your channels, it automatically keeps a backlog of all discussions, so you can read them later if you need to.

The media power in IRC relies on very fast distribution of data to a large group of people.  Because you can be on multiple channels simultaneously, and bigger channels have hundreds of people simultaneously, any news (and links) travel very fast on IRCNet. Eye-witness reports flow in IRC a lot faster than traditional media (even on the web) can possibly process and publish.

The future is in IM   :-)