Instant Messaging

I am way behind on my 23 Things Kansas, and I think this one is out of order, but I just need to get caught up! I already have an Instant Messaging account set up at work, and I use it frequently. I like it especially, because I work in Collection Development, and my office is in the basement, and I have to work closely with our Acquisitions and Cataloging folks, who are on the second floor of the library. There are 7 of us in Collection Development, and we share one centralized telephone. Since we have no phone at our desks, it is so nice to be able to "talk" to our co-workers upstairs, because at least with IM, we can have our computer in front of us, which is impossible when having to use the telephone. We use IM to converse back and forth about cataloging questions, acquisitions questions, etc., or just to check and make sure someone is at their desk before travelling all the way up to the second floor. It is very handy, and saves lots of time and steps. I have, of course, watched my kids do the IM thing when they were in high school, for a totally different purpose than I use it for! When they first set the IM up for us here at work, some thought it was pretty much the same thing as e-mail, but it really is not. The response is more immediate, and it really is like having a "conversation."
We still use e-mail too, but I do like IM!