I signed into Adium yesterday for what has to be the first time in months. For whatever reason, I have not had a reason to use the multi-platform chat client in quite some time, opting instead for quick e-mails, Facebook posts or Twitter to communicate with friends. In college, not using an instant messenger in the pre-Facebook days would mean perennially being left out of the loop for a sudden change in itinerary. Wanted to grab a bite to eat? See who is online and shoot them a quick message to meet down the street. Not online? Hope you liked the food in the cafeteria.
Staying connected is a rather difficult proposition. It takes what precious amount of leisure time we have apart from our jobs (unless you "borrow" a bit from your employer every now and then) to keep up to speed on what is happening in an online social circle. For those that have flatly chosen to avoid it, they do so at the peril of missing an invite or receiving those little nuggets of information about which they might not otherwise not hear. Despite living in a more connected world, it has become even easier to fall out of the proverbial loop.
Back to instant messengers. As Twitter has reduced the number of text messages I use in a given month, the text message reduced the number of times I signed on to an instant messaging service. Most people do not venture very far without their cell phones, and text messaging has proven to be the fastest way to transmit an "urgent" message to just about anyone. If I wanted to find out where I was supposed to meet up with friends that evening, I could wait until they got back to a computer or send a quick text.
How have your usage patterns changed over time of instant messengers, text messaging and micro-blogging services like Twitter?