Instant messaging

Instant messaging is the act of instantly communicating between two or more people over a network such as the Internet.

User base

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• AIM: 53 million active users (Nielsen//NetRatings, August 2005), 195 million total (January 2003).
• Skype: 45 million total (September 2005).
• MSN Messenger: 29 million active (Nielsen//NetRatings, August 2005), 155 million total (April 2005).
• Yahoo Messenger: 21 million active (September 2005).
• Jabber: 13.5 million total (Osterman Research August 2005]).
• QQ: 10 million active, 400 million total users (Tencent Q1 results 2005).
• Gadu-Gadu: 3.6 million total (January 2005).
• ICQ: 1.8 million active (September 2005), 140 million total (June 2003).