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 (
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 (
"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 (
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.
Also See Story:
Yahoo seeks to attract surfers by blocking spyware
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
ADVERSARIES: The new list includes 11 entities in China and one in Taiwan, which is a local branch of Chinese cloud computing firm Inspur Group The US added dozens of entities to a trade blacklist on Tuesday, the US Department of Commerce said, in part to disrupt Beijing’s artificial intelligence (AI) and advanced computing capabilities. The action affects 80 entities from countries including China, the United Arab Emirates and Iran, with the commerce department citing their “activities contrary to US national security and foreign policy.” Those added to the “entity list” are restricted from obtaining US items and technologies without government authorization. “We will not allow adversaries to exploit American technology to bolster their own militaries and threaten American lives,” US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick said. The entities
Minister of Finance Chuang Tsui-yun (莊翠雲) yesterday told lawmakers that she “would not speculate,” but a “response plan” has been prepared in case Taiwan is targeted by US President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs, which are to be announced on Wednesday next week. The Trump administration, including US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, has said that much of the proposed reciprocal tariffs would focus on the 15 countries that have the highest trade surpluses with the US. Bessent has referred to those countries as the “dirty 15,” but has not named them. Last year, Taiwan’s US$73.9 billion trade surplus with the US
Prices of gasoline and diesel products at domestic gas stations are to fall NT$0.2 and NT$0.1 per liter respectively this week, even though international crude oil prices rose last week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) said yesterday. International crude oil prices continued rising last week, as the US Energy Information Administration reported a larger-than-expected drop in US commercial crude oil inventories, CPC said in a statement. Based on the company’s floating oil price formula, the cost of crude oil rose 2.38 percent last week from a week earlier, it said. News that US President Donald Trump plans a “secondary
RSS