instant messaging : widespread use in social networks?

instant messaging : widespread use in social networks?

There was an article in yesterday’s New York Times about the use of instant messaging between parents and children. I was surprised that the article argued that IM has become integrated into “the broader fabric of the American Family”. Preliminary results from the first two years of my E-neighbors study have found very little use of IM amongst middle-class adults in the maintenance of their personal support networks (including contact with children). I’m sure that the IM continues to grow in popularity, but I doubt that it has become a part of everyday communication for most parents and children. There is a very good article by Bonka Boneva and Robert Kraut in The Internet in Everyday Life that takes a detailed empirical look at parent child relationships and email use. I did like the discussion in the NYT article of local uses of IM; how spouses are using IM to communicate with each other and their children within the same home. NYT Article