[Kristina]

I just had my first day of work on Monday in a Congressional office in DC and I was very surprised that everyone in the office uses AIM. Here we are, having to wear suits to work every day, always presenting ourselves in the most polished fashion, using AIM. Oddly enough though, it works because we use IM's to see if people can take phone calls instead of running or screaming across the office. So who knew it could come in handy in the business world.

I must say that AIM has greatly helped my typing skills which does help in the office too. Additionally, I'm not the greatest speller even though I used to be an English major, but strangely enough, I think that instant messaging has improved my spelling skills (at least the ones I lost with spell check on word). I pretty much use the same vocabulary when I message as when I speak so typing out longer words that I usually don't write out often, I force myself to go look up the spelling on dictionary.com. So if you're neurotic like me, it might actually have its benefits.

The major downside of AIM in the workplace though is people who chat instead of working. My dad manages a dozen or so engineers and he hates people who use AIM because they never use it for work. I usually try to keep my away message up while I'm in the office and my messages hidden; then I'll only retrieve the messages from my coworkers.

AIM of course can be abused, but anything good can be abused. If people just used it in the correct way, I think it could be an asset.