IM versus IRC usage statistics

What do you use to communicate online? (Multiple Choice)

  • I Regularly Use Instant Messengers Like AIM, MSN, Yahoo etc.

    Votes: 74 91.4%

  • I Regularly Use Internet Relay Chat

    Votes: 21 25.9%

  • I don't even know what IM is

    Votes: 1 1.2%

  • I don't even know what IRC is

    Votes: 4 4.9%
  • Total voters
    81
  • Poll closed .
kupocake

kupocake

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I need urgently to get some kind of proof that my hunch of Instant Messaging being more popular than IRC is correct. So which do you REGULARLY (at least four hours every week) use? I'll probably totter off and get some other sites in on this, because a gaming site will be skewed.

This is for a 2500 word essay on “To what extent is the language used in Instant Messaging conversations divorced from other modes of written and spoken conversation”, all due in on Thursday (my motivation is at an all time low as far as education goes :( ). If you think you have any additional opinions that may help, don't be afraid to post.
 
I never use IRC. I personally don't like random chatrooms. I'm on MSN Messenger 24/7 when I'm on my PC.
 
I want to try IRC, but I am a n00b, so am forced to stick with xfire and AIM.
 
And I'm the only IRC user.

I'm so nerdy that I own several IRC channels. :(
 
Use MSN and hate it, after having used and hated AIM too. Used to use ICQ 99b and love it but all my contacts stopped using it. There are probably some kind of transcript sites knocking around that you can get some essay mileage out of too.

You might be able to squeeze some words out of comparing Instant Messaging with txt-spk culture and mobile phones. Other than that I've noted that I myself and a number of friends of mine tend to type like we talk in real life when using MSN - that is, we'll go out of our way to chuck in phonetically transcribed peculiarities of pronunciation, characteristic laughter, etc. My friend also knows a London Bengali girl who tends to type exactly how she talks, eg 'lol ur so funny man talken 2 u iz like bare joekz u knoe dat, safe doe innit.' At the same time a lot of people can't be bothered wasting that kind of effort and abbreviate everything to txtspk or whatever.

Emails, IRC, forums etc all seem to have a higher level of textual eloquence generally, from what I've seen anyway. I certainly don't type on here like I speak IRL. It's more like a posh phone convo. I actually talk like a pakistani gangsta.

^^^Just some thoughts you can maybe use for reference. Luck with the essay. Got an exam Wednesday myself, avoiding revision atm.
 
Laivasse said:
Use MSN and hate it, after having used and hated AIM too. Used to use ICQ 99b and love it but all my contacts stopped using it. There are probably some kind of transcript sites knocking around that you can get some essay mileage out of too.

You might be able to squeeze some words out of comparing Instant Messaging with txt-spk culture and mobile phones. Other than that I've noted that both I myself and a number of friends of mine tend to type like we talk in real life when using MSN - that is, we'll go out of our way to chuck in phonetically transcribed peculiarities of pronunciation, characteristic laughter, etc. My friend also knows a London Bengali girl who tends to type exactly how she talks, eg 'lol ur so funny man talken 2 u iz like bare joekz u knoe dat, safe doe innit.' At the same time a lot of people can't be bothered wasting that kind of effort and abbreviate everything to txtspk or whatever.

Emails, IRC, forums etc all seem to have a higher level of textual eloquence generally, from what I've seen anyway. I certainly don't type on here like I speak IRL. It's more like a posh phone convo. I actually talk like a pakistani gangsta.

^^^Just some thoughts you can maybe use for reference. Luck with the essay. Got an exam Wednesday myself, avoiding revision atm.
Click to expand...
We think along remarkably similar lines except I'm willing to bet you wouldn't have left it until you had three days left to get it all down, thus probably losing any chance of getting half of the better points into the essay. This problem is compounded by the fact that I have an exam on the same day as this is due in. Shitcakes.

Edit:
On the bright side, I've already passed the module I have the exam in and my first year doesn't count towards my next two unless I totally fail. I just don't WANT to scrape by with a shitty passing mark, even though it is entirely my fault that I'll probably end up doing so.
 
kupoartist said:
We think along remarkably similar lines except I'm willing to bet you wouldn't have left it until you had three days left to get it all down, thus probably losing any chance of getting half of the better points into the essay. This problem is compounded by the fact that I have an exam on the same day as this is due in. Shitcakes.
Click to expand...

No, I might have blown it off completely, not written it and accepted a fail like I did with my 10,000 word dissertation a few weeks back :p Take heart from the fact that whatever you do it's not going to turn out as badly as that...
 
I used IRC for a while (Addict3 ftw), but stopped as I grew into forums and IMing.

AIM and MSN only blow if you don't have friends. (;
 
Use IM way more then IRC although i do use IRC and know how to. I just don't use it enough to count.
 
I prefer IRC to messengers, and I generally prefer forums to IRC.

A forum gives everyone time to read each other's replies, and gives me the time to write the greatest reply possible.

IRC gives instantaneous social benefits, and the administrator hierarchy means I can kickban any morons who come around.

Messengers are totally private and tend to attract people with little if any grasp of basic English grammar.
 
I use IM. IRC doesn't work correctly with my internet.
 
I use IM all the time. Xfire and MSN mostly. I do use IRC but it is rare. Usually to download things.
 
Are you kidding me? Who uses IRC these days?

IM is for people with friends.

IRC is for people without.
 
DreadLord1337 said:
Are you kidding me? Who uses IRC these days?

IM is for people with friends.

IRC is for people without.
Click to expand...

What a logical answer! :rolleyes:
 
I pretty much only use AIM for my private messaging needs. I use it because everybody I know who plays dragonrealms uses it. It's the standard there. I don't like ICQ, MSN, YAHOO messengers. They don't appeal me, and not just cause I'm biased towards AIM.
 
I know a few people from America who only use AIM so I use that on occasion but only to speak to like... 3 people. And one of those uses MSN just as regularly now. On MSN I have about 25 contacts I speak to regularly. Anyone I don't speak to, gets deleted but not blocked so that they can still speak to me without cluttering my MSN page.
I used ICQ for a while but to be perfectly honest it mostly sucked. 1 because none of my friends used it and 2 because a lot of the options sucked. Although the latter may be because I was used to MSN so much. As for Yahoo, I could never seem to get it working.
I only ever use Xfire when someone I want to talk to is playing a game, or I am playing a game. It's never on all the time.
I used to go on IRC chat when I was part of the Planetside community as they would have devchats in there. I wouldn't know how to use it socially though.

As for text chat, I don't know why people bother to learn a standard abbreviation for every single word in the English language. I struggle enough learning French. And people seem to get along so much better when they can read what I say, even if I can't read their replies.
 
DreadLord1337 said:
It is quite true though. Admit it or not.
Click to expand...

IRC is like IM with a larger group of people.

Claiming something as fact does not make it so.
 
I only use IM for chat etc.
Used to rarely use IRC but i got bored of it.
 
Both.

IM (MSN) for all my mates from college.

IRC for just people i know from the net (not random chat rooms...)

I've always been using MSN since being on the internet, and over the past 2 years i've used IRC more, it's pretty damn good and worth knowing about it.
 
Pi Mu Rho said:
IRC is like IM with a larger group of people.

Claiming something as fact does not make it so.
Click to expand...

Yes a larger group of forum goers, a larger group of gamers, a larger group of fanboys, a larger group of modders.

I stand by the previous statement. Find me an IRC channel with RL friends chatting.

Also, AIM is used by Americans, MSN is everyone else. Kinda like soccer, MSN sucks.
 
I know several IRC channels with "real-life" friends chatting. You make it sound like there's some kind of inherent anti-IRC movement between "real-life" people. IRC is just slightly more complicated than an IM application - it has nothing to do with social circles.

Also, AIM is used by Americans, MSN is everyone else. Kinda like soccer, MSN sucks.
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Possibly two of the most ridiculous statements I've ever seen. Stop presenting your opinions as facts.
 
Pi Mu Rho said:
Possibly two of the most ridiculous statements I've ever seen. Stop presenting your opinions as facts.
Click to expand...

You know I'm joking, and no, AIM is used by Americans, and MSN by almost everyone else. Go investigate, most of Europe and Canada use MSN, while the USA uses AIM more.

And I've never heard of anyone using IRC with RL friends, and I guarantee you not one of my friends, nor anyone I know has ever heard of it.

I don't present my opinions as fact, you read them as fact and get ticked off.
 
DreadLord1337 said:
I stand by the previous statement. Find me an IRC channel with RL friends chatting.
Click to expand...
Well, I used to be in a Science & Industry clan started by me and three other friends from school. Sure it's not still going, but it did happen once. :p

The results of the poll are looking very clear cut and they're proving my point so that's all very good!
 
AIM sucks.
I hate AOL that much that I'm not even going to even try it.
 
DreadLord1337 said:
And I've never heard of anyone using IRC with RL friends, and I guarantee you not one of my friends, nor anyone I know has ever heard of it.
Click to expand...

Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
 
Ah, and for the record: Trillian.

I refuse to use the default AIM or MSN clients. I would rather not have a messenger than use those monstrosities.

For IRC, I'll use mIRC only because of its vast scripting capacities. I have written scripts to show me when a certain person is speaking but not show his text (an advanced form of /ignore) and various other cool stuff.

If you want to make a distinction between IM users and IRC users, you need evidence. Here's something: for most plebes, it is understandably easier to install AIM and add a friend than to install any IRC program, find the right server, and join the right channel, especially since these operations are usually carried out by text commands. This suggests that IM is more for the fickle-minded than IRC. Oh, ho, ho!
 
I like and use both. MSN is very useful because most people have it sign in automatically, so there's a good chance that if you're after a certain friend or acquaintance, and if they're on their computer, they're online and available to talk. It's got a useful immediacy to it. You want to talk to Bob, you buzz Bob. It has many nice features: sending documents, webcam, etc.

IRC is more like wandering over to a big group of your friends and joining in the conversation, with all the hilarious group antics that result. It's easier to use than it seems. In fact, IRC was the first internet chat program I ever used, and I used it for at least a year before I even knew MSN messenger existed. I would use it a lot more, except that this computer I'm on won't run it. To be honest, I prefer it to MSN. It's just that, obviously, not everybody's always on it.
 
I use MSN because I think it looks better, works better and has more features than any other messenger. Plus, most of the people that go to my school use MSN. AIM is just... ugly.
 
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