Unlike e-mail, where you might have to wait hours or days for a response, you get instant feedback from the person you're communicating with. Another attribute of instant messaging is it maintains a list of associates colleagues, suppliers and customers, for example and lets you know when they're online. But knowing who's at their desk ready to work with you is a secondary boon of this communications tool. There's no busy signal with instant messaging. So it's not uncommon for experienced users to carry on two or three instant messaging dialogs simultaneously.
People can also do it while they're on the phone.
Instant messaging is especially good as an entr e to a phone call, or for delivering or retrieving that quick bit of information. I've also found instant messaging to be a surprisingly great decision-making aid. Sometimes, that's all you need. One other cool instant messaging feature is something called Buddy Chat in AOL Instant Messenger. It's a chat-based virtual meeting feature that allows three or more people to converse in a text window or a private chat room.