Messenger. Community builder, or community helper?

Happy New Year!

I believe Messenger software should be set apart from other community based methods of communication. I have accounts with all of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM), MSN Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Skype and ICQ, mainly due to the fact that I have a number of friends who each use different software, and all for different reasons, so to contact with them all, you need all the different software.



Already this highlights a major difference than with other communities. A message board only requires an Internet Browser and connection so is available to all. Messenger software is not, and requires a choice of downloading this software and registering. As with its nature, Message boards and chat rooms also allow for several conversations to go on at once between several people. Although many messenger programs now allow for group conversations, these are fairly new and not as regularly used.

Relating to the subject title of this post, I don’t think that messenger software builds communities. A message board builds a community, as it allows many people use at the same time and more importantly, when IT STILL EXISTS when a user is not there, unlike messenger – whereby the means of communication does not exist when a user is offline. Messenger software works more as a tool for communities to use once they become acquainted – more like an addition that allows people to talk in real time when the message board community may not be enough. Remember as well that in order to combat against problems such as child abduction and ‘grooming’ via messenger services, many now only allow people to add you to their ‘friends list’ once you have given explicit permission.

In conclusion, I don’t think that messenger software alone can create a community as such, although the presence of such software allows existing communities to become closer and interact in a wider variety of ways.