Industries thrive when there is just one standard to adopt. E-mail has become much more pervasive because of the SMTP protocol; the video industry grew quickly because VHS won out over beta; IBM ...

First popularized by adolescents sharing gossip and homework tips, instant messaging is going mainstream: In the U.S. 13.4 million people are IM-ing (yes, it has become a verb) at work, each averaging ...

Does Gmail want to be an instant messaging client? Last month the popular webmail app shipped an emoji reactions bar in the mobile app, where a single tap would send a new email with your emoji ...

Instant messaging is booming. Almost everywhere you look, people are typing messages to friends and work colleagues at a frantic pace. These are not e-mails but rather short messages that often travel ...

A recent report from Burton Group, "Instant Messaging: It's Not Just Idle Chatter," has highlighted the necessity of creating policies to govern the use of instant messaging (IM) within a company.

Consider this scenario: You have your whole staff assembled for a planning meeting. People have their laptops and Blackberries to take notes and respond to urgent e-mails. Two employees in the back of ...