Re: [Air-l] The death of chat?
In the UK i have mainly heard about pedophiles and grooming. A director of MSN that appeared on the news at lunch also mentioned porn spam. Though each news report i have heard has also suggested that MS are only closing their 'free' service and their 'paid' services are still availble, the strong implication being that they are scaring people into the paid service. ren www.renreynolds.com ---- Original message ----
Date: Wed, 24 Sep 2003 19:35:13 +0200 From: "Gitte Stald" <stald@hum.ku.dk> Subject: Re: [Air-l] The death of chat? To: <air-l@aoir.org>
That was the reporting in DK as well - but the argument that chatrooms are used by pedophiles to meet children was mentioned as well. :-) Gitte ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Jones" <sjones@uic.edu> To: <air-l@aoir.org> Sent: Wednesday, September 24, 2003 6:56 PM Subject: Re: [Air-l] The death of chat?
Given the international membership on this list I'd be very interested in hearing reactions to MSN's announcement from outside the U.S. The news stories I heard about it on the radio in the U.S. emphasized spam and porn as being the reasons for the closing. Is that the reporting elsewhere?
Thanks, Sj
At 12:04 PM -0400 9/24/03, Karim R. Lakhani wrote:
I think this means the web based chat rooms and not IM or real time chat service.
J Sternberg wrote:
With Internet Relay Chat flourishing worldwide since its creation in 1988, as well as the ongoing popularity of AOL's Instant Messenger, it seems to me that chat won't be dying out any time soon. Although I don't know of any definitive statistics, my impression is that compared to systems such as IRC and AIM, MSN chat has been just a drop in the bucket.
Janet Sternberg, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Communication and Media Studies Fordham University
Lois Ann Scheidt wrote:
MSN has announced that it will be closing or significantly changing its chatrooms worldwide, effective October 14. The announcement can be found at http://www.wininformant.com/Articles/Index.cfm? ArticleID=40329
Lois Ann Scheidt MPA MIS SPHR CCP Doctoral Student School of Library and Information Science Indiana University Bloomington IN USA http://www.loisscheidt.com
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-- =============================================== Karim R. Lakhani MIT Sloan School of Management & The Boston Consulting Group, Strategy Practice Initiative e-mail: karim.lakhani@sloan.mit.edu | lakhani.karim@bcg.com voice: 617-851-1224 fax: 617-344-0403 http://spoudaiospaizen.net/ http://opensource.mit.edu | http://freesoftware.mit.edu http://userinnovation.mit.edu
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Here in Canada, the French CBC radio channel only briefly mentioned the news that "...MS has decided that their chat system will not be free anymore". So the emphasis is put on the business strategy. I havent' had time to read MS press release yet, but I would go in the J. Sternberg's sense and say that definitely, MSN does not equal chat, that IRC is still expanding, and that numerous chat applications are florishing. Chat, as a practice, has never been so ubiquitous, going beyond personal computers towards cellphones. It is even giving birth to new language varieties. It's not only a specific, fast-spreading mode of communication (comprising not only text, but also image and voice); it's becoming a cultural fact. Chat has always been despised and contempted for being not only mondane, but trivial, and a place where hackers, paedophiles, and so on are gathering -- the Dark Side of the Internet. So how many times have we heard "Cassandres" threaten: "this should be / will be regulated", if not simply terminated. We must be very cautious not to relay these discourses. As far as I know, MS has had a long term strategy concerning chat communication. They have paid social researchers to make surveys, and experiment various interfaces in order to make a good marketable product. They have literally looted the open, free IRC protocol (has they are used to) to build their own Microsoft Chat Network. In the same time, MS fought very hard to try to impose MSN Chat Messenger as a standard "de facto". Non-interoperability of instant messaging services is the key of profitability. Moreover, it not a news that Microsoft is engaged in a process of suppressing all free services or making them inusable. Just think of standard Hotmail service; think of the "2 months free" offer to use their "MSN suite". Actually, all this being said, I would think that if there is to be a sector of the Internet with which to begin the forced paiment for use, chat would be a good candidate. Guillaume Latzko-Toth
From: Guillaume Latzko-Toth <latzko-toth.guillaume@uqam.ca>
Chat Messenger as a standard "de facto". Non-interoperability of instant messaging services is the key of profitability.
In which case nothing has been learnt from the SMS/texting fiasco. Here in Europe interoperability of SMS = a network externality effect = profit, snowballing externality effects = explosion in use = more profit. IM has some of the same properties EXCEPT users are not charged on a 'per IM' basis and there is little/no interoperability . Some room for innovation and strategic re-direction I think? -- Dr Ben Anderson +44 (0)7710 187 806 www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/people/ben_anderson.html
I totally agree with Ben. What I wanted to point out is the ambiguity surrounding interoperability in the IM industry (MS, AOL Time Warner [non-interoperability even between their own systems: ICQ and AIM]). But we can see more and more "universal" IM clients (Odigo, Imici, Trillian) that interface with multiple protocols; I wonder though how they deal with the legal implications of this compatibility. More on this topic: http://www.techtv.com/products/software/story/0,23008,3336529,00.html Besides, I did not intend to reduce the debate to purely cynical business considerations. There are big, open questions about what is going on in chat "cities" and who should be "accountable"... This is part of my dissertation project. Guillaume
From: Guillaume Latzko-Toth <latzko-toth.guillaume@uqam.ca>
Chat Messenger as a standard "de facto". Non-interoperability of instant messaging services is the key of profitability.
In which case nothing has been learnt from the SMS/texting fiasco. Here in Europe interoperability of SMS = a network externality effect = profit, snowballing externality effects = explosion in use = more profit.
IM has some of the same properties EXCEPT users are not charged on a 'per IM' basis and there is little/no interoperability .
Some room for innovation and strategic re-direction I think?
-- Dr Ben Anderson +44 (0)7710 187 806 www.essex.ac.uk/chimera/people/ben_anderson.html
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As always, the NTK mailing list http://www.ntk.net/ has summed up a large number of net-user's opinions on this topic : A contrary couple of weeks among the forces fighting the good fight - or at least, convincing everyone else they are. MSN certainly added a few people to their buddy list after many outlets ran MSN's cancelling of their chat services without a glimmer of analysis. MSN UK head Gillian Kent was on all media, recommending people switched from "free and unmoderated" chatrooms to... MSN Messenger. Oh yes, much safer. Anyone wanting to write a real follow-up story might want to try opening MSN Messenger. Click on "Search for a Contact". Choose "Search By Interest". Browse "Profiles By Interest". Click on "People > Romance". Click on "13-19". Voila. A list of potential penpals, sorted by age and gender. Any chance of MSN Messenger getting shut down now? Or is the AIM-killer a bit more profitable than free, moderated chat? Paul ---------------------- Paul Bevan Institute of Geography and Earth Sciences University of Wales Aberystwyth Ceredigion Wales SY23 3DB Tel. +44 (0)1970 622610 Fax. +44 (0)1970 622659 eml: ppb98@aber.ac.uk
participants (4)
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