Instant Messaging Etiquette

E-mail and chat rooms offer computer users a lot of online connections, but when it comes down to right here and right now, instant messaging delivers the goods.

"I love IM," says Noe Spaemme, an online etiquette expert at Etiquette Hell. "Electronic messaging is so incredible. I've been an IM junkie for the longest time, and many business people use it. But it's the kids, I think, who are using it most."

Take California seventh-grader Emily McKeown, for example. She fell in love with instant messaging when she got her own computer about a year ago.

"Being far away and being able to talk like you're right there, that's cool," McKeown says. "E-mail is an easy way of sending letters. Instant messaging is a new way to telephone."

But the IM dance can get complicated, especially when everybody wants to chat at the same time.

"When you're talking to seven people at once, it can be hard to keep up," says McKeown. "It's hard to type fast, yet I know a lot of people who will try to talk to 14 people simultaneously."

Lauren Stein, an executive with a national public relations agency, uses IM mostly for business communications when she needs quick information from a client or wants to reach a reporter or editor.

"[Instant messaging] shouldn't be the main form of communication, but use it for what works," Stein says. "Make sure you get to the point quickly. It's a great way to manage time and to get a quick turnaround on something."

To keep your IMs in order, read on for our list of instant messaging do's and don'ts.