Total Time Spent Using Instant Messaging Jumps 110%.

Jupiter Media Metrix reports that the total number of minutes spent at work in the US using the top three brands of instant-messaging applications—AOL, MSN and Yahoo!—increased 110 percent, from 2.3 billion minutes in September 2000 to 4.9 billion in September 2001. The number of unique users of instant-messaging applications at work increased 34 percent, from 10.0 million in September 2000 to 13.4 million in September 2001.

Meanwhile, the total number of minutes spent using instant-messaging applications at home in the US increased 48 percent, from 9.2 billion in September 2000 to 13.6 billion in September 2001. And the number of unique users of instant-messaging applications at home increased 28 percent, from 42.0 million in September 2000 to 53.8 million in September 2001.

“While the adoption rate of instant messaging continues to outpace that of the Internet, the time spent using the applications demonstrates even more profoundly the significant role instant messaging plays online,” said Charles Buchwalter, vice president, media research, Jupiter Media Metrix. “We first noticed the explosive popularity of messaging in the home environment, but workplace usage is following a similar trajectory.”

Leading Instant-Messaging Services At Home

AOL—driven by its Instant Messenger, Buddy List (within the AOL Proprietary online service) and ICQ—remains the leading brand among instant-messaging services at home with 41.7 million unique users in September 2001, up 21 percent from September 2000. However, MSN Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger are the fastest growing applications: MSN increased 94 percent, from 9.6 million users in September 2000 to 18.5 million in September 2001; and Yahoo! increased 25 percent, from 9.5 million users to 11.9 million over the same period.

AOL is also the leading brand of instant-messaging applications at home according to total usage minutes. AOL messaging applications were used 9.8 billion minutes in September 2001, up 31 percent from September 2000. However, MSN and Yahoo! have grown at a faster rate: MSN was used 1.9 billion minutes in September 2001, up 159 percent from September 2000; and Yahoo! was used 2.0 billion minutes in September 2001, up 98 percent from the previous year.

Leading Instant Messaging Services at Work

While AOL has the most users at work, MSN and Yahoo! are the fastest growing. AOL had 8.8 million unique users in September 2001, up 17 percent from September 2000; MSN had 4.8 million users, up 88 percent; and Yahoo! had 3.4 million users, up 83 percent.

Unlike at home, time spent on AOL at work has grown the fastest over the past year. Driven largely by its Instant Messenger, AOL was used 3.6 billion minutes in September 2001, up 149 percent from September 2000. Meanwhile, Yahoo! was used 603 million minutes in September 2001, up 60 percent versus the previous year, and MSN was used 651 million minutes, up 32 percent.

Cross-Usage Among Competing Messaging Services

With all three major messaging brands growing their reach significantly, the number of instant-messaging users that use more than one service is on the rise. In September 2001, 29 percent of instant-messaging users at home used at least two competing brands, up from 24 percent in September 2000. The percentage of AOL users who used at least one competing service in September 2001 was 33 percent; that figure was 70 percent for Yahoo! and 63 percent for MSN. At work, 23 percent of messaging users used at least two competing brands, up from 18 percent in September 2000. The percentage of AOL users that used a competing brand in September 2001 was 30 percent; 44 percent for MSN; and 59 percent for Yahoo!.

“Instant messaging demonstrates the power of a network effect, where the value of the network grows as its membership increases,” said David Card, vice president and senior analyst, Jupiter Research. “But as AOL continues to block competing messaging technologies, users are taking things into their own hands by using multiple services.”

The Future of Instant Messaging

“The value of AOL’s IM community can’t be measured simply by marketing opportunities or technology adoption,” said Card. “What everyone’s fighting for is a shot at using Buddy Lists and presence management as the hub of future cross-media communications services.”

To view charts CLICK above on ‘More Images’.