Instant communication
If you have been living in a cave for the last eight years, you've missed a few things. First off, the Patriots are all really good and the Huskers suck. Also, there's a war or something. Most importantly, though, you missed the evolution of communication. Specifically, the entire world now communicates entirely through instant messaging—face-to-face and telephone conversations have been entirely forgotten for a far more efficient method.
The pioneer of this amazing instantaneous form of communication, ICQ, was launched by Israeli company Mirabilis in 1996. The name is a plan on the phrase "I seek you." At the time, the Internet community consisted mostly of nerds—to put it gently—or those using it for professional or educational reasons. Both categories saw the benefit of instant communication, even above the speed that email allowed, and ICQ immediately gained popularity wordwide.
While ICQ has steadily declined in use since then (with only 1.8 million active users), AOL Instant Messenger has quickly risen to the top of the charts. Released in 1997, it benefited directly from AOL's existing presence. AOL Time Warner acquired the rights to ICQ in 1998, which allowed them to secure AIM as the dominant instant messaging client. While ICQ still exists and continues to be updated, the client was essentially abandoned in favor of development for AIM.
AOL was not without competition, however, as both Yahoo! and Microsoft launched their own clients. By the turn of the millennia, AIM was joined by Yahoo Messenger and MSN Messenger, respectively, and the general use of instant messaging had spread throughout the nation—and the world—quite effectively. As of September 2005, the top three clients total 103 million active members, with over 500 million total (read: registered screennames that are not necessarily in current use).
The current state of instant messaging presents an interesting stage of development. With the onset of broadband Internet and the upgrade in speed it provided, most of the top clients have added voice and video support. VoIP (Voice Over IP) services have also begun integrating text and voice/video support into one package, as well, further blurring and advancing the concept of instant messaging.
While most college students use one or more instant messaging service, they are likely unaware of recent breaking news: Microsoft and Yahoo! have agreed to cooperate. Due to Google's introduction of their own client, Google Talk, the No. 2 and 3 services have finalized plans to integrate their networks. Scheduled for the midway through 2006, MSN and Yahoo! Messenger users will be able to exchange messages, add each other to their respective buddy lists, and otherwise socialize digitally as normal.
With roughly 25 and 20 million active users respectively, this merger represents a dramatic shift in the market composition. Essentially, the MSN/Yahoo! network will equate AIM—at 53 million active users—and, the two companies hope, secure their presence for years to come. To be fair, the agreement does not forbid either AOL or Google to integrate their systems as well, but little interest is apparent from either.
To the average Internet user, this might not mean much. In fact, many people have already found their own solution to the multiple clients through the use of programs such as Trillian, Gaim and Fire—programs which allow seamless integration of the top clients, without running multiple instances of each network's software. These are free, third-party applications which are not associated with one particular network. (As a personal note, I use Trillian to accommodate the AIM, MSN and Yahoo! networks, and I highly recommend it for those attempting to balance multiple networks.)
The above numbers are taken from Nielsen/NetRatings and CoScore Media Metrix figures in September/August of 2005. They focus on numbers from the United States, but international figures differ significantly. Throughout the rest of the world, MSN leads with 185 million, while Yahoo! and AIM follow with 82.1 and 61.2 million. Yahoo! and Microsoft believe their combined numbers will total 275 million worldwide.
Of course, all of this would be unnecessary information, had you not been living in that darned cave all this time.