Over four out of ten American Netizens use instant messaging online, with an estimated 11 million using it at work, "becoming fond of its capacity to encourage productivity and interoffice cooperation," according to a new study by the Pew Internet & American Life Project which says IM on the job is a lot more acceptable now than a few years ago.
Co-authors Eulynn Shiu and Amanda Lenhart said 11 percent of those surveyed who use IM at work say they can't live without it, 68 percent call it a mixed but mostly positive blessing, 4 percent call it a mixed but mostly negative blessing, and 10 percent say they want to do away with it.
The authors say 40 percent of those using IM on the job say it means better teamwork, while 15 percent of those remaining think it contributes minimally to teamwork and 41 percent think it doesn't at all.
Half the IM users on the job said it helps them save time on individual tasks, the authors added, while a quarter say it makes no such impact on them – but 47 percent said IM gives them spots of relief from the daily grind.
"At-work IM users report feeling positively about how instant messaging improves workflow and the quality of the work-day," Shiu and Lenhart said in the report. "But some think that the use of IM encourages gossip, distracts them, or even adds stress to the workplace."
Released last week, the study, "How Americans Use Instant Messaging," said IM usage varies widely over different age groups, and that IM is used to expand and stay in touch with social circles as well as self-expression.
The study said 42 percent of Netizens surveyed – estimated to represent over 53 million American adults – use instant messaging, though the growth has been modest in the time since Pew began observing it in early 2000, when 42 million adults used IM programs.
Typically, according to Shiu and Lenhart, 12 percent of Netizens (about 29 percent of IM users) send instant messages to others, "translat[ing] into just under 13 million people using IM on any given day… constitute[ing] a growth rate of about 9 percent since April 2000."
But while a majority of IM users (70 percent) still use e-mail more than IM, Shiu and Lenhart said, 24 percent of IM users surveyed said they use IM as much as e-mail and 36 percent of IM users say they use it every day.
