Instant Messaging Inefficiencies

Via New Scientists' tech blog:

Twenty per cent of messages composed by users of instant messaging clients are never sent, according to a German study.

The study, conducted by linguist Michael Beißwenger, found that the wasted keystrokes were largely the result of people deleting messages that had already been answered or because the conversation had proceeded to another topic.

Anyone that has used IM is sure to have had the same experience. Just as you finish typing a message, the other person answers the question you were about to ask, or otherwise moves things on.

As great as IM is in helping you communicate with coworkers and friends, on a number of occasions I've had to pick up the phone to talk about something that's just too nuanced for IM.

But I'm still actually a little surprised at just how much waste there is. Ever since most IM applications added the option to see when the other person was typing my IM communications have been much improved. (And I find it fairly annoying when the person I'm IM-ing with has the option turned off.) So, I wonder what type of messaging software was used in the study. I haven't been able to find a link, mostly because I can't read German. For any of you that do and are interested, here is Beißwenger's site.

If you think you're wasting too much time on IM (or email or Facebook), checkout RescueTime.

(More on the study, hat tip: Jessica Liebman)