The End of Instant Messaging (As We Know It)

It’s the end of instant messaging as we know it. Those chat boxes once commonplace on a computer desktop amid documents, Web browsers, and spreadsheets are giving way to a new breed of user-friendly, real-time conversation tools that Internet companies hope will keep users engaged with their content–and the advertising that appears alongside it.

Case in point: Microsoft’s (MSFT) Nov. 13 announcement that it will integrate its instant message service, Messenger, used by 300 million people, more closely with its Windows Live email and social-networking sites. So instead of having to toggle to a separate window, downloaded to a desktop, users can strike up a real-time conversation with someone else right from an application they’re already using–say, Hotmail.

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