Hello dave76-ga,
I did find some useful figures for IM, and have interlaced them with
your original points to provide a more direct and hopefully relevant
answer.
1) How many people use it?
>historical
nua.com Nielsen NetRatings: “IM applications still popular with
Internet users” Jun 2002 excerpt
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358069&rel=true
“More than 41 million home Internet surfers used Instant Messaging
(IM) applications during the month of May, according to
Nielsen-Netratings.
This is equivalent to nearly 40 percent of the active home Internet
population.”
>forecast
Internet.com “Evolution of Instant Messaging Increases Stakes for
Microsoft, AOL” May 2001 excerpt
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/hardware/article/0,,5921_756111,00.html
“The number of instant messaging users worldwide will reach 180
million by 2004, according to research by Gartner Group,”
2) Where and with what device do they use it? (Home vs. work; PC
vs.PDA vs. cell phone)
>Where?
nua.com Nielsen NetRatings: “IM applications still popular with
Internet users” Jun 2002 excerpt
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358069&rel=true
41 million home users and “Around 12.6 million office workers also
used instant messaging during the same period, reaching 31 percent of
the total active Internet population at work.”
Internet.com “Instant Messaging Has Gone to Work” by Michael Pastore
Nov 2001 excerpt
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/applications/article/0,,1301_923701,00.html
“The number of minutes spent instant messaging at work increased from
2.3 billion minutes in September 2000 to 4.9 billion in September
2001. The number of unique users of instant messaging applications at
work increased 34 percent, from 10 million in September 2000 to 13.4
million in September 2001, the study found.
Among at-home Internet users, which have traditionally dominated
instant messaging use, the total minutes spent using instant messaging
applications in the United States increased 48 percent, from 9.2
billion in September 2000 to 13.6 billion in September 2001. The
number of unique users of instant messaging applications at home
increased 28 percent, from 42 million in September 2000 to 53.8
million in September 2001.”
>Device
Internet.com “Internet Key to Communication Among Youth “ By Michael
Pastore Jan 2002 excerpt
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/demographics/article/0,1323,5901_961881,00.html
“The national survey of more 6,700 teens and parents of teens was
conducted by AOL subsidiary Digital Market Services, Inc. It found..
Twenty-five percent of the parents surveyed indicated that their teens
currently use cell phones with instant messaging and/or e-mail
capability. When asked which wireless devices their teen would most
like to own, 51 percent responded a cell phone with messaging
capability.”
Here is an interesting new device...
Internet.com “Teach Your Toys to Speak IM” by Michael Singer Jul 2002
http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article.php/1435331
Los Angeles-based United Leisure Corporation...is in a licensing
agreement to use AT&T’s Natural Voices Text-to-Speech (TTS) Engine.
The Toys marketed as “Instant Messaging Buddies” can be placed near a
PC and will speak written text from instant messages using wireless
transfer links”
3) Why do they use it? (Convinience, speed, simplicity etc.)
Internet.com “IM, Other Technologies Displacing Long Distance” by Bob
Woods July 2002 excerpt
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/applications/article/0,,1301_1429421,00.html
“Even as residential long-distance prices fall to ridiculously low
levels, technologies like wireless phones, e-mail and instant
messaging (IM) are further cutting into its dominance as a
communications medium, a study from J.D. Power and Associates says.
The survey covers consumer long-distance use in the U.S. It says 57
percent of all respondents indicated they use some alternative to
making a wireline long distance phone call, including e-mail/IM,
wireless phones and Internet-based calling. That's up from 50 percent
in 2000.”
“In that same 57 percent group, 52 percent of consumers use e-mail
and/or instant messaging as an alternative to long distance, up
slightly from 2001. Those who use e-mail/IM employ that method 58
percent more often than in the past, J.D. Power also says.”
“A J.D. Power spokesperson says the company did not differentiate
between e-mail and IM this year because of sample-size difficulties.
The research firm hopes it can break out e-mail and IM figures for
next year's survey.”
Internet.com “Internet Key to Communication Among Youth “ By Michael
Pastore Jan 2002 excerpt
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/demographics/article/0,1323,5901_961881,00.html
nua.com Nielsen NetRatings: “IM programs draw US kids and teens
online” Aug 2002 excerpt:
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358261&rel=true
“Instant Messaging(IM) applications proved particularly popular with
online children with 11.5 million kids and teens using such software
in July. In fact, children accounted for a quarter of the total
instant messaging population for the month.
According to Nielsen-Netratings, nine out of the top ten online
destinations for kids and teenagers featured instant messaging tools
and services such as downloadable IM icons and profiles.
The top site visited by online kids and teens in the US during July
was ColorYourProfyle.com. The second most visited website was
ActiveBuddy.com, while IMTools.com, gURL.com, and FireHotQuotes.com
round out the top five children’s sites.”
4)
(a) How do subscribers break down by network (i.e. ICQ vs. AIM vs.MSN
IM etc) and do most people use more than one?
nua.com Nielsen NetRatings: “IM applications still popular with
Internet users” Jun 2002 excerpt:
http://www.nua.com/surveys/index.cgi?f=VS&art_id=905358069&rel=true
“AOL Instant Messenger was the most popular IM application for home
users. More than 22 million unique surfers used the program during
May, equivalent to 21 percent of the total home Internet population.
MSN Messenger drew 15.7 million Internet users, while Yahoo Messenger
attracted 12.4 million and ICQ drew 4.4 million.
According to Nielsen-Netratings data, a high number of those who use
IM applications access multiple programs. The most common combination
among surfers is AOL Messenger and MSN Messenger.”
Internet.com “Instant Messaging Has Gone to Work” by Michael Pastore
Nov 2001 excerpt
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/applications/article/0,,1301_923701,00.html
“MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger are the fastest growing
applications among at-home users both in terms of minutes and users.
MSN increased its users 94 percent, from 9.6 million users in
September 2000 to 18.5 million in September 2001; and Yahoo! increased
25 percent, from 9.5 million users to 11.9 million over the same
period. MSN was used 1.9 billion minutes in September 2001, up 159
percent from September 2000; and Yahoo! was used 2.0 billion minutes
in September 2001, up 98 percent from the previous year.
Among at-work instant messengers the same pattern is seen. AOL has the
most users at work, but MSN and Yahoo! are the fastest growing. AOL
had 8.8 million unique users in September 2001, up 17 percent from
September 2000; MSN had 4.8 million users, up 88 percent; and Yahoo!
had 3.4 million users, up 83 percent.
Unlike at home, time spent on AOL at work has grown the fastest over
the past year. Driven largely by its Instant Messenger application,
AOL was used 3.6 billion minutes in September 2001, up 149 percent
from September 2000. Meanwhile, Yahoo! was used 603 million minutes in
September 2001, up 60 percent vs. the previous year, and MSN was used
651 million minutes, up 32 percent.
Competition among the different instant messaging applications, which
block interoperability as a means of maintaining their markets, has
forced a rise in the number of instant messenger users who use more
than one service. According to Jupiter's study, 29 percent of instant
messenger users at home used at least two competing brands in
September 2001, up from 24 percent in September 2000. The percentage
of AOL users who used at least one competing service in September 2001
was 33 percent; that figure was 70 percent for Yahoo! and 63 percent
for MSN. At work, 23 percent of messenger users used at least two
competing brands, up from 18 percent in September 2000. The percentage
of AOL users that used a competing brand in September 2001 was 30
percent; 44 percent for MSN; and 59 percent for Yahoo!.
"Instant messaging demonstrates the power of a network effect, where
the value of the network grows as its membership increases," said
David Card, vice president and senior analyst, Jupiter Research. "But
as AOL continues to block competing messaging technologies, users are
taking things into their own hands by using multiple services."
And instant messenger users should not expect to see interoperability
in the near future. According to a report by Ferris Research, the
instant messaging industry is still 18 to 24 months away from adoption
of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and SIP for Instant Messaging
& Presence Leveraging (SIMPLE) standards.”
A full chart of % breakdown and unique users is available at the
above URL for users of Internet Messaging for home and work
environments by IM client. (
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/applications/article/0,,1301_923701,00.html
)
(b) Is the growth in multi network messenger apps like Trillian likely
to be significant?
According to the following article people will be bonded to AOL and
Microsoft.
Internet.com “Evolution of Instant Messaging Increases Stakes for
Microsoft, AOL” May 2001 excerpt
http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/hardware/article/0,,5921_756111,00.html
“As consumers and business users select brand loyalty to AOL or
Microsoft, they may be pledging not only their IM address, but also
their future online persona and personal data, according to Gartner.
This long-term market advantage will be far more beneficial than
owning an e-mail address or domain because instant messaging will be
the core of wireless e-commerce, live collaboration, virtual gaming
and a host of other Internet applications.”
According to Jupiter Research it is set to increase
nua.com Jupiter Research: “New IM application wows Internet users” May
2002
“Internet users have been quick to adopt a new instant messaging (IM)
application which connects users of all the major messaging services.
Trillian, a program which connects users of Yahoo, MSN, AOL and ICQ
services together, first appeared in Jupiter Media Metrix’s Internet
audience ratings in February with 344,000 unique users.
However, according to new figures for April, use of the program has
now risen to 610,000 unique users, an increase of 77 percent on
February.
While Trillian still lags behind the major IM services, Jupiter
predicts that the number of people using multiple IM services is set
to increase because of inoperability among the major services.”
5) What companies are starting to use IM on their web sites (e.g.
Lands End let you IM an associate to ask questions) and are they doing
anything interesting with it other than being able to ask questions
(e.g. purchase items, check statements etc)?
Unfortunately this is the weakest area for research figures
particularly for any lists of sites which use IM. There appears to be
some barriers for large scale adoption of IM for ecommerce, some
reasons are highlighted in the articles below, though projected usage
figures for this area are optimistic. Yahoo in the meantime has made
some innovative use of IM.
CRM daily “Is the Buzz on Web Chat for Business All Talk?”by Kimberly
Hill Jan 2002 excerpt
http://www.crmdaily.com/perl/story/15748.html
“LivePerson CEO Robert LoCascio told CRMDaily told CRMDaily.com that
those top three services -- AOL (NYSE: AOL) , Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO)
and MSN -- provide little in the way of security and confidentiality
for customer interactions.”
“...chatting applications developed specifically for CRM use, like
LivePerson's (Nasdaq: LPSN) tools, give the same attention to
security and record-keeping as in other business applications.”
Wirelessnewsfactor.com “Instant Messaging: The Next E-Commerce
Channel” by Lou Hirsh April 2002 excerpt
http://www.wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/17345.html
“No company has the necessary infrastructure to handle the possible
volume of IM requests, Gartner's Batchelder noted, adding that
competing IM standards are also an impediment. Instant messaging (IM)
can help e-commerce sites capture potential sales, but cost, service
and technological hurdles must be cleared before IM can have a major
impact, according to analysts. ”E*Trade-Yahoo! Pact Opens Door for IM
E-Commerce”
Wirelessnewsfactor.com “E*Trade-Yahoo! Pact Opens Door for IM
E-Commerce” by Keith Regan EcommerceTimes.com April 2002 excerpt
http://www.wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/17038.html
“
E*Trade (NYSE: ET) on Monday announced it will partner with Yahoo!
(Nasdaq: YHOO) to provide customers with streaming financial data and
access to trading through Yahoo's instant messaging technology .
E*Trade also noted that it will combine its launch of Yahoo! Messenger
service with expanded access to trading tools for consumers.”
“The two companies said users of the Yahoo! Messenger product will be
able to receive streaming stock quotes, market updates via audio and
video clips and other information, while simultaneously using
Messenger to communicate with friends and family.
Exclusive Content
E*Trade added that it will begin producing exclusive video content,
known as "IM the Money," for the product, which Yahoo! calls the
"IMVironment."
The Messenger product also will include links that help users locate
E*Trade ATMs and brick-and-mortar stores. The result, according to the
financial services firm, will be a customer base that can "more easily
access its suite of products and services." “
Wirelessnewsfactor.com “Instant Messaging for Call Centers Leaves ‘Em
Smiling” by Stephanie Losi CRMDaily.com June 2001 excerpt
http://www.wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/10246.html
“Fast Growth, Low Cost
Instant messaging is the fastest growing communications channel to
date. According to IDC, by 2004, more than 400 million enterprise
clients will be generating 2 trillion instant messages between
consumers and businesses.
In addition, Forrester Research estimates that the average cost of a
contact center call is about $33, whereas an instant messaging session
costs about $7.33.”
Wirelessnewsfactor.com “IM-Based E-Commerce’s Missing Link: Security”
by Mark W. Vigoroso EcommerceTimes.com Apr 2002 excerpt
http://www.wirelessnewsfactor.com/perl/story/17103.html
“By 2003, research firm Gartner (NYSE: IT) said, 70 percent of
enterprises will employ workers who use IM services.
And by 2005, instant messaging will surpass e-mail as the primary way
in which consumers interact electronically, according to Gartner. In
addition, IM will be integrated into 50 percent of businesses'
customer-interaction applications.”
“Dangerous Communication
The problem with IM is that it relies on insecure communication
protocols that cannot be policed by traditional firewalls and
gateways.
What is more, it is difficult to scan files for viruses attached to IM
messages.
Not surprisingly, some analysts are pushing for enterprise-class
versions of IM technology that have tighter security provisions.
Perhaps an industrial-strength version of Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT)
MSN Messenger would have prevented the worldwide propagation of the
"Cool Worm" virus on February 14th.
That virus spread by sending itself to other IM users on victims'
"buddy lists." “
Useful links
Midwestpcreview.com “Instant Messaging” by Bob Kwater
http://www.midwestpcreview.com/Volumes/10_4/10_4-Instant_Messenging.html
Search Strategy:
usa "instant messaging” demographics
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=usa+%22instant+messaging%22+demographics
usa "instant messaging" usage demographics use
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=usa+%22instant+messaging%22+usage+demographics+use
e-commerce OR ecommerce "instant messaging"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=e-commerce+OR+ecommerce+%22instant+messaging%22
I hope the information available is satisfactory as an answer.
If you need clarification of the answer just ask.
kind regards
lot-ga |
