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Posts with tag IM

Thnx 4 Ur Time, I Can't W8 2 Work 4 U :)

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Jul 31st 2008 at 12:30PM


If you have ever sent a thank you note to an interviewer that read anything like the above headline, you probably didn't get the job. Increasingly, candidates are sending off casual thank you e-mails and even text messages -- unfortunately, we're not joking -- that incorporate IM shorthand and emoticons. The problem is that many younger job-hunters don't realize this may be costing them that dream job they interviewed for.

Shorthand and casual communication such as text messaging and notes sent via social networking services like Facebook and MySpace are still considered extremely unprofessional (and rightly so). While this method of communication has become the norm for many personal interactions, hiring managers frown upon the practice.

Avoiding thank you note pitfalls is easy, just follow these simple suggestions:
  • Don't use IM and SMS shorthand (this includes emoticons). Remember, this is a job interview.
  • Don't ask to be friends with the hiring manager on MySpace or Facebook. They're not your buddy.
  • Sit at the computer and write out a proper thank you note, and don't just fire off a quick message from your BlackBerry. It'll show you really care about getting the job.
  • Do address the hiring manager by name. Being personable is good, but remain professional.
[Source: Wall Street Journal]

Facebook to Add Instant Messaging

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Mar 17th 2008 at 12:01PM

Facebook Hopping on the Instant Messaging Bandwagon
It was bound to happen eventually (if for no other reason than MySpace did it first) -- Facebook is finally offering up an instant-messaging service. Ironically, Facebook's new IM service may have the effect of killing off a couple of chat applications already available on the social-networking site.

Initial rumors claimed that the new Facebook IM service, which is to be embedded into people's profiles, would be based on Jabber, the same standard underlying Google Talk. This would have meant that other IM programs, such as Pidgin, Meebo, or even Google Talk, could connect to the Facebook service easily and bring it to the desktop. These rumors, of course, turned out to be false, and Facebook IM, at least initially, will only be available on Facebook pages.

With MSN Messenger, Yahoo!, AIM, Skype, Gizmo, and Google Talk already clogging the Internet, we're pretty confident we don't need any more new IM services. Especially not ones that can only be accessed on the Web by logging into a separate place from all your other IM services. But if Facebook ever manages to get all the other IM programs to work with its IM service, then it might become an attractive online chat place indeed.

From TechCrunch

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Open AIM 2.0 Gives Chatters Choice

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Mar 5th 2008 at 3:29PM

Open AIM 2.0 Give Chatters Choice
In the spirit of full disclosure, AOL cuts our paychecks. But don't think that we're excited about this just because of contractual obligation. AOL has announced its Open AIM 2.0 initiative.

While it is possible to chat with AIM via programs such as Pidgin and Trillian or web sites like Meebo, until now those operations were forced to hack their way into the AIM system. This limits advanced features such as voice and video chat and file transfers to the official AIM client only. It also means that at any time, AOL could have dropped a cease and desist letter on the other companies providing access. MSN and Yahoo! do the same, operating closed networks that 3rd parties must force their way into.

But now AOL will join Google in operating open instant messaging networks. This means unfettered access to one of the most popular instant messaging networks for third parties.

Slowly but surely the computing industry is moving towards open access and open source. The integration of AIM into Gmail and Google Talk is just a sign of things to come. Soon, perhaps, you won't need a separate screen name for Yahoo!, AIM, Google Talk, and MSN. Maybe you'll be able to use your Gmail address to chat with people on Yahoo!, or your AOL screen name to IM your buddies on MSN.

From TechCrunch

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Don't Just Call Your Friends, Spam Them!

by Terrence O'Brien, posted Sep 25th 2007 at 4:23PM


Mobile, instant, always-on access to everyone you know is the new obnoxious forefront in communications technology. A new start-up calling itself Trumpia, has decided to take the obsession with constant communication to its absurd illogical extreme.

Sign up with Trumpia, then betray your own sense of decency by inputting all of your friends' contact info ... and we mean all of it. Input, e-mail, cell phone and instant messenger information. Then you can "blast" all of your friends at once, hitting them on every communication device possible short of a ham radio.

That way, no one can possibly claim that they didn't get your message -- unless they were lost for a few days in the Himalayas. In fact, the only way your (soon-to-be former) friends can stop you from "blasting" them, is to sign up for the service themselves and block you.

If you think the whole thing sounds kind of shady and caustic, you're not alone.

From TechCrunch

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E-mail Addiction: Battle of the Sexes!

by Tom Conlon, posted Jul 26th 2007 at 4:59AM

E-mail Addiction: Battle of the Sexes!
Not too many men we know are addicted to shoe shopping, just as it isn't so easy to find a female who paints her face in team colors every Monday night in the fall and spends the better part of her salary on an all-inclusive sports cable package. But what about e-mail? When it comes to the domain of the inbox, who's more addicted?

This past June, America Online (Switched.com's daddy) surveyed 4,025 Internet users age 13 and older about their e-mail usage. Lots of fun information was uncovered, including the different attitudes men and women have toward electronic communication. When it comes to men, women and e-mail, the survey found:

  • Women have fewer e-mail accounts on average (2.6) than men (3.0). (MORE ADDICTED: MEN)
  • There is virtually no difference in how long men and women have had e-mail. (MORE ADDICTED: NEITHER)
  • 60 percent of all respondents who work outside of the home check personal e-mail on the job an average of three times. Women are more likely than men to feel guilty about doing so (31 percent vs. 26 percent). (MORE ADDICTED: MEN)
  • Men are more likely than women to check their work e-mail over the weekend (69 percent vs. 62 percent). (MORE ADDICTED: MEN)
  • Men are more likely than women to have checked their e-mail in the middle of the night (44 percent vs. 36 percent). (MORE ADDICTED: MEN)
  • Women spend about 15 extra minutes a day on e-mail than men do. (MORE ADDICTED: WOMEN)
  • Despite having fewer accounts, on average, than men, women check e-mail more frequently daily (4.6 times) than men (4.3). (MORE ADDICTED: WOMEN)
  • Men have gone longer than women without checking their e-mail (nine vs. eight days). (MORE ADDICTED: WOMEN)
  • Men are more likely than women to check their e-mail from a portable device in restaurants, while eating out alone, at a Wi-Fi HotSpot and in business meetings, while women are more likely than men to check e-mail on a portable device in bed in their pajamas. (MORE ADDICTED: MEN)
  • Women are more likely than men to send thank you notes and birthday wishes via both e-mail and regular mail (31 percent vs. 20 percent), while men are more likely to send them only via regular mail (33 percent vs. 22 percent). (MORE ADDICTED: WOMEN)
  • Women are more likely than men to think they are addicted to e-mail (16% vs. 13%). (MORE ADDICTED: NEITHER)

It's a tight race, and of course some of the conclusions we've drawn could be argued, but it looks as though that pesky Y chromosome has made men a little more susceptible to e-mail addiction. But let's not feel too bad about ourselves, fellas. Women will always have that insatiable lust for chocolate of theirs.

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