Instant MessagingInstant messaging is a tool used by the vast majority of Internet users. This new tool has some advantages and some disadvantages. Instant messaging is used very often in education. It is used for recruitment and admissions, student-faculty communications, library consultations, group projects, immediate feedback, and class discussions. Businesses also find instant messaging useful, as does the deaf community. Some of the disadvantages are that teachers are not comfortable using instant messaging, instant messaging may interfere with students' work, and viruses can be transmitted via instant messaging via links. Instant messaging seems to have more positives than negatives. Instant messaging has many benefits and that's why so many people use it today. Instant messaging can happen instantly. You don't have to sit and wait for a response like with email. Someone said that: “You can check if a friend is online and available, type a “Wassup?” and you are chatting” (Reid, 2004). Furthermore, instant messaging has a great impact on students. With instant messaging they are in able to “create, join, leave, and rejoin at will what the Pew Internet Group calls “virtual study groups” (Woods, 2002). There are always delays in communication due to interruptions in dinner or the broadcast of a favorite television program. A high school student said: “Not only do I research online, but I also use it to chat with people at school. If I forget an assignment or need assistance with a concept I can't understand, the Internet is an easy way to connect with a colleague who might be able to help me” (2002). If a student has a teacher's nickname then he can get imm... middle of paper... American LifeProject. Retrieved March 25, 2004, from Ebsco Host: http://web10.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+f5h%2Ceric+sid+8DCA235D%2DE69.Reid, Goldsborough. (2001). Instant messaging for instant communications.Black Issues in Higher Education, 18. Retrieved March 25, 2004, from Ebsco Host: http://web10.epnet.com/citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=dbs+f5h%2Ceric+sid+8DCA235D %2DE69.Robinson, Stacey. (2001). Morris Library offers students an instant messaging system. Retrieved March 22, 2004, from http://www.dailyegiziano.com/btc01/seca/im.html.Woods, Bob. (2002). Digital Divide between Students and Educators? Retrieved March 24, 2004, from http://www.instantmessagingplanet.com/public/print.php/10817_1447791.Yared, Diala. (2002). Instant messaging. Retrieved March 28, 2004, from mason.gmu.edu/~dyared/NCLC348/Instantmessaging/competencies/diala.htm.