Is instant messaging dead?

I don't know about anyone else, but I did sign up for the unofficial Skype group, and found it to be not quite what I was looking for after all. I know we all have TotJO chat, but I was wondering if anyone even bothers with IM clients anymore, or am I just a dinosaur? This only came up because Facebook finally walled off their chat function from 3rd party clients (I use Pidgin) and I'm at a point where I'm just ready to leave Facebook altogether anyway. So, am I living in the past at this point? I'm a real fan of open standards, and therefore have a Jabber account, but with no friends who IM anymore it seems kind of pointless.

Let me get back to you about it later :lol: :pinch:

I tend to message people one on one on Skype rather than in the group... I find it easier and preferable because conversation is more directed. You're welcome to add me, I think my Skype name is on my profile.

(As for Facebook, I left that 3 years ago and never been happier for it!)

The TOTJO Skype group was really popular and active when it was first set up, but that was a number of years ago now and over time people have drifted away, or made more personal friendships that they concentrate on. Novelty value wears off, I guess...

I sometimes feel as though IM isn't nearly such a big thing as it used to be, but I don't know if that's maybe just because I (and my friends) are older now and so personally don't use it as much as I used to in my teenage days...

The youth nowadays go a lot more in for phone apps, I believe...still IM of a sort, but more of the Whatsapp and Snapchat variety than Skype, FacebookChat, etc. These things move more quickly than we realize sometimes...I mean, remember MSN Messenger? A decade ago absolutely everyone had it, since then it died a slow death and was recently closed down for good, I seem to recall.

With regards to TOTJO, I know that plenty of us are quite active on IM clients (namely Skype and G+) but often more on a one-to-one or small group basis. If there's someone you particularly want to get to know, send them a message and ask for their IM username, the majority of people here will be happy to add you to their contacts...

There are still groups out there, and still used Just have to find the right places for them. Force Academy used to have an access Skype group but it's died off in the past year....I did not know TOTJO had one....Whoever has the ability....Invite me please! : Trisskar

Actually skype I have used mostly for the video chat. You can talk with someone and actually see their face which I find a huge plus for me. Of course this means you have to be willing to give up some of your anonymity first. I only just got a skype account though.

To be perfectly honest, a small part of me is actually kind of relieved. I used to be a big chat room user back in the heyday of graphical chat like "The Palace" and all that, but as IM became more popular, it died a slow death in many ways. It became so much harder to meet new people and get to know them in a dynamic group environment, and was actually rather isolating. Now that it seems Facebook has been filling that space for people, perhaps the resurgence of the chat room as a destination is a good thing. I've certainly met a lot of great people here so far.

I never really jumped on the IM bandwagon: though I have had occasion to use it every now and then, it never became a major communication form for me. Mostly I try to stay in contact with people via email or postal letters, though I'll also answer PMs here, and I occasionally frequent ToTJO's chat system, because it is a central part of the Temple - at least on the social side of things.

It hasn't died, necessarily, it's just changed. Just as people fled ICQ (11811900 ) for AIM and MSN, people have left AIM and MSN for Facebook and Google Hangouts.

(edit: I use Trillian or Pidgin, depending on what I'm doing where. I don't always have them on, but I can always be found pretty darn easily between ICQ, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Google Hangouts, Skype, Curse, Raidcall, Xfire, Facebook, Steam, etc. I'm not hard to catch.)

I had the MSN Messenger thing for years, then I went to one of those multi-platform programs. Things started to shift to using the text function of voice clients and that replaced IM programs for me. This continues with Skype and Teamspeak only now, but I notice some web sites seem to try and integrate with each other at various times.

I view that as just things changing, and reckon it'll remain a component of the internet because some people need to use that sort of service.

For example it did take off in some workplaces with Microsoft Office Communicator services running on LAN's so in some workplaces people use it a lot every day to get stuff done which is not enough to justify a call but too small for an email. That requirement for text messaging will continue IMO.

The open standards, and degree of inter-connectivity across products just reflects the ebb and flow of the industry I'd say.... some manager somewhere thinks its a good idea to do something which was already being done before, rebrand it and sell the idea as 'new' to ask for a raise LOL, but yea I'd say that issue depends on market penetration which depends on lots of other things.

Edit; now I'm off to look for my ICQ number!! Found it, 342**** :blink: has my realname.