IM Is Here. RU Ready 2 Try It?

 


Anne Stuart is a senior writer at Inc.

Instant Lingo

In instant-messaging culture, spelling and grammar matter less than trading messages at the speed of a championship tennis match. So fans of IM write in standard business shorthand: FYI, ASAP, OK, thx, cc. They also rely on those annoying acronyms that hard-core E-mailers have thrown around for years: BTW (by the way), LOL (laughing out loud), TTFN (ta-ta for now). But as if it weren't telegraphic enough, business IM seems to be adapting its own code. Among the ones we found:

BRB: Be right back.

BTN/5: Be there in five (minutes); be right there.

C&B or c/b: Crash and burn.

Convo: Conversation.

G2G: Got to go.

IC: I see.

JK or j/k: Just kidding.

JW or j/w: Just wondering.

NP or n/p: No problem.

OTL: Out to lunch.

OTP: On the phone.

OTR: On the road.

Ping: To send someone an instant message ("I'll ping you later").

Pop: Ditto.

SB: Stand by (as in "just a minute").

SN: Screen name, or on-line identity.

TTYL: Talk to you later.

The IM Generation

Most youthful IM aficionados use the technology for exactly the reason you'd expect: to converse, instantly, with everybody they know. Simultaneously.

"I have 11 windows open," Jessica Nurnberg, 15, of Oklahoma City, typed during an interview using IM. Translation: As Nurnberg answered Inc's questions at lightning speed, she was chatting with 10 other friends, swapping messages on everything from homework to hot ninth-grade gossip.

Other young IM fans cite more practical uses, such as:

Passive promotion. Kevin Colleran, 21, wouldn't dream of spamming his 200 IM buddies with ads for his on-line business, Clubvibes.com Boston, a nightclub directory. But Colleran, a Babson College senior who holds several national "young entrepreneur" titles, uses the Clubvibes logo in his buddy icon (the on-line ID badge that appears during IM sessions). That way, he raises brand awareness without raising hackles.

Real-time brainstorming. For a sociology class, Marie Aschenbrenner, 18, of Penticton, British Columbia, was assigned to a debate team taking a "pro" stance on globalization. Team members researched the issue, then met on-line the night before the debate. Working into the wee hours, they drafted and rehearsed their arguments -- entirely by IM.

Coordination of schedules. Emily Giles, 15, of East Greenwich, R.I., uses IM to quickly organize gatherings. "U can ask a bunch of people if they can do the same thing all @ the same time," she wrote in standard IM (rather than standard English) during an IM interview. "Its easier 2 keep track of who can do what n who cant."

Homework help. Casey Koppelson, 17, of Newport, R.I., sometimes uses IM for French-class assignments. If Koppelson needs the French phrase for "mow the lawn," she sends an IM inquiry to SmarterChild, a free on-line homework helper. SmarterChild instantly searches its database of information and sends back a message with the words: "fauchez la pelouse."

Matchmaking. Sarah Kornblum, 16, of Natick, Mass., uses IM to introduce friends from different towns. "They chat on here for a while and get to know each other a little bit and THEN go out on a date," she wrote. "So far it is working pretty well, if I do say so myself."

Many under age 25 can't imagine life without IM. "I really don't know what I did before," says Aschenbrenner, who had never used IM before she started college last September. Now she's so IM-dependent that when she stayed off-line for a whole day, her brother called to check on her.

Please E-mail your comments to editors@inc.com.

Related content:
IM Product Sampler
IM Legal Primer
IM Etiquette

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