Instant messaging proves popular in Taiwan

Are you reading this story while messaging one, or more friends online?

If you are, then you are one of 8.08 million of Internet users in this country, and one of the 200 million people using instant messaging (IM) in the world, according to statistics of online-market research firm InsightXplorer (創市際) and International Data Corp (IDC).

IM, a text-based program that allows users to communicate real-time on the Internet, has been widely adopted by users and has become a major communication tool, both in personal and business communication, in daily life.

With the huge number of users, IM is considered a powerful marketing tool in the dotcom era, said Joyce Chin (秦承瑤), director of access and communication business service at Yahoo-Kimo (雅虎奇摩).

"In the near future, IM may replace browsers as users can basically get whatever they want through the system, such as receiving e-mail, checking the weather or stock information and booking tickets, which will create a lot of business opportunities for online marketers," Chin said yesterday during a press conference in which Yahoo-Kimo rolled out a new version of its Yahoo Messenger.

While downloading IM is free, Chin said the company makes money from selling advertisements and services via the platform, and may consider charging users forn certain items in the future.

The system is expected to serve as a major customer-to-customer (C2C) marketing tool owing to its capability to create and connect a huge online community, she said.

Thus, to lure as many users as possible, Yahoo-Kimo has added new features including animated "audibles" that greet or flirt, and "avatars" that represent users and can be customized with different outfits and hairdos.

Users can also listen to Internet radio stations from around the world, play games with friends and share files.

Globally, Yahoo messenger ranked No. 2 after America Online Inc's instant messaging services and ahead of Microsoft Corp's MSN Messenger.

In Taiwan, 6.69 million of Internet users logged in to use MSN Messenger last month, while there were 4.04 million Yahoo Messenger users, InsightXplorer said.

Joyce Kuo (郭怡君), group manager of Microsoft Taiwan's MSN business division, said the company also sees the business potential in the system.

She noted that the ads on the bottom of its messenger's interface have received higher click-through rates than those of common banner ads in Web pages.

"We will continue updating our version with more user friendly and amusing functions to create more business opportunities," Kuo said.

"We also plan to charge users with the all-in-one service," she said.

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