Instant Messaging in the office at Piaras Kelly PR

Instant Messaging in the office

Published June 28th, 2006 in Technology & PR

The Irish PR industry have been slow to adopt instant messaging. To be honest, I’ve only recently discovered its benefits for media relations. I would have thought that it could prove to be a distraction, but in fact it’s really efficient in terms of liaising with the press.

For example, one of my clients dropped a story in my lap the other week at the last minute. I quickly logged onto IM and checked to see whether a freelancer I knew was online. I sent him a quick message and turned around a piece of coverage quickly.

Using Instant Messaging proved to be really efficient because:

I could see whether the journalist was online
Whether he was available or away from his desk
Could see whether he was responding or whether my message was lying idle on his screen

There are far more benefits associated with IM such as:

I can have a group discussion without overlooking someone’s contribution as can happen with email
It’s far less intrusive than phoning a journalist, especially later in the day when they might be racing towards a deadline
Means my inbox is far less cluttered

Richard Edelman also recently posted on the subject, here’s the benefits as he sees them:

IM is conversational – With its back-and-forth nature, instant messaging lends itself easily to continuous dialogue. Additionally, IM does not require the formality often associated with e-mail.

IM is unobtrusive – Used properly, IM is a relatively silent tool that sits passively in the background of your computer while it’s not in use. It lends itself to multitasking such as communicating with colleagues during conference calls or answering a question while reading a document.

IM is informative – IM can be a valuable tool to monitor the work status of colleagues. The technology allows users to post messages while they’re away or do not want to be disturbed, meaning that time isn’t wasted trying to track down individuals.
IM is all grown up – At its inception, IM was used primarily for one-on-one and group text conversations. Today, most IM platforms allow for video and audio conversations, meetings, file transfers and streaming content. This can be helpful if you are looking to share a Web link or picture quickly.  IM is inexpensive – Most public IM hosts are free, so companies are only paying for the bandwidth they use. Companies who use IM can save money on conference calls, Webinars and international communications.

IM is…well…instant – When you need an answer now, IM can save precious seconds relative to e-mail. Ideal for brief exchanges, IM conversations often last seconds, meaning employees can work more efficiently without the worry of a cluttered e-mail inbox.

Technorati Tags: Instant Messaging, Piaras Kelly

10 Responses to “Instant Messaging in the office”

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1 David Cochrane Jun 29th, 2006 at 11:50 am

Question, why would a journalist be on your MSN list? So you can harass/lobby them on a specific subject? I think this is a little misguided assumption, suggesting that journalists should be there to serve the needs of the PR practitioner (and whilst I too would love to think that, I’ve done both sides of the coin, and it’s a little different).

For a freelancer, perhaps it’s a bit different, as they are the ones who are going to do the work to pitch a story to a newspaper.

Can you imagine a journalist being perpetually bombarded by IMs from a PR asking them if they’ve received x press release (it happens over the phone at the moment, so let’s not be disingenuous by thinking it wouldn’t happen on IM).

I use MSN to speak to my publishers on occasion (I think some of them wish to add me in order to build up general good rapport, but other publishers just do that with a friendly email). I use IM to speak to friends and family, it’s not widely used in my workplace, mainly because the MD wants people to communicate in person rather than over wires and the like, but it was widely used in the last two places I worked.

I disagree with the ascertation that IM is unobtrusive, I tend to leave MSN running but I appear logged off (particularly in work), so that I can’t be interrupted when i’m busy, the ‘busy’ option when logged in is silly, if you don’t want people to talk to you, don’t log in.

Don’t get me wrong, I think IM is marvellous [ciderandhavoc@hotmail.com is me on MSN by the way ], I just don’t see this tool as a means to bring together the needs of the PR person, and the needs of the journalist.
2 Vanina Jun 29th, 2006 at 4:01 pm

Piaras,
I fully agree, IM is a good tool for all the reasons you mentionned. As a proof: you can reach on my skype (vanidelob)…
3 Hobbit Hob Jun 29th, 2006 at 5:13 pm

Hey Piaras - I like the idea so much so that I made it a point to write this on my blog as well. Here’s the trackback:

http://indiapr.blogspot.com/2006/06/instant-messaging-with-journalists.html

Instant messaging is a wonderful tool and it’s up to us how we want to use it - whether to make ourselves a nuisance or not in front of the journalists depends on how we use/ abuse this technology. The idea is worth a try.
4 Ed Byrne Jun 29th, 2006 at 6:00 pm

You can quote Edelman all you like as the source of your IM adoption … but I know who the real evangelist was that persuaded you IM was not, in fact, the devil!
5 Piaras Jun 29th, 2006 at 7:44 pm

Points taken David. I’d look at it the same way as contacting a journalist by phone. However I should have prefaced it with the fact that the journalist would have to have given me their IM info first. As such a level of trust would have been developed.

I’d much rather use IM than call unless it was pressing, because it’s far easier to balance the demands of an Instant Messaging conversation with another task than talk to someone by telephone.

Like Hobbit says, it’s up to use whether we make a nuisance of ourselves with it or not. There’s a lot less of us making a nusance of ourselves with IM than by phone at the moment. So far now, there are plenty of benefits.
6 Chris Clarke Jul 2nd, 2006 at 3:25 am

I can certainly see the benefits of using it to liaise with the press, but my firm uses it mostly to connect with people around the office, and it’s fantastic. It keeps the email to a minimum, and with voice and video chatting available, you can hold virtual meetings. It’s a practical tool that the older generation just haven’t fully grasped yet (although my guys at Thornley Fallis have!)
7 Ken McGuire Jul 4th, 2006 at 9:59 am

Having previously worked for an internet company, in house IM was vital - whether to pass the time in real quiet spells or dealing with any other member of staff. Starting my own business almost a year ago the use of IM even in the smallest working environment (3 of us) is terrific, most useful for passing quick links, references, code etc. Forget pens and paper in the office. To bring it to that level and use it to produce an external activity that quickly is impressive!
8 susan Apr 26th, 2007 at 3:34 pm

i still cant believe that some companies are still refusing to employ IM in the workplace. i think they just are frightened by the concept and are are unaware of how more productive they company could be with this innovative tool.
9 siobhan lynch Jun 7th, 2007 at 9:53 am

Hi Piaras,
You can instant message for free at the moment on i-mode phones from O2 (free until end of June)

http://www.o2online.ie/wps/wcm/connect/O2/Home/Personal/Services/Messaging/Instant Messaging

Great blog, keep it up, especially like the Ten Minutes Older Podcast, excellent source of info stats. I’m looking after the prepay youth segment so its very relevant,

thanks,
Siobhan