What is Digg?77 Comments
- nobodaddy, on 06/11/2008, -3/+39I love IM, I wish it was a requirement in my office to use it. It makes communication with remote employees especially easy. Colleagues who refuse to use IM drive me crazy. They remind me of my mother, who only turns on her cell phone when she is in the car.
- alapoet, on 06/11/2008, -3/+35I knew it!
This goes right along with studies which say that taking short breaks throughout the day allows you to think more creatively and to be more productive. - DreKor, on 06/11/2008, -0/+2716/F/local park*
*totally not 34/M/FBI van outside your house - chanop, on 06/11/2008, -2/+21Appendage: surfing digg.com all day at work is not productive!
- sundancekid503, on 06/11/2008, -3/+20A/S/L??
- DreKor, on 06/11/2008, -0/+10Probably by increasing productivity, which increases output, which increases sellable product, which increases net profit .
But I could be wrong. - antdude, on 06/11/2008, -0/+7I have speech and hearing impediments (born with them), so verbal communications in person and on telephone is sometimes impossible. IMs (and e-mails) are life savers. I am not sure how I would be able to work if I didn't have these technologies (same for the Internet -- addicting too!).
- Attol, on 06/11/2008, -1/+8I put on my robe and wizard hat........
- Daggity, on 06/11/2008, -0/+7Who IM's from the park?
- mnemy, on 06/11/2008, -0/+6I wouldn't exactly call this a study. There are a ton of assumptions made. Yes, IM *can* increase productivity with used solely within your company. That's why there are quite a few IM services geared towards internal communication. However, the regular association with IM (and the use that companies are trying to reduce) is chatting with friends. I admit that I use IM all day at work, and I'll admit it isn't good for my productivity. But I also see it as helping me keep sane and relieves stress. Sure, I sometimes use it to ask my friends in my field technical questions related to tools I use on the job, but that's not the primary reason I use it.
- inactive, on 06/11/2008, -3/+8I like to be productive by rofling on as many ims as possible.
- stutimandal, on 06/11/2008, -0/+5IM for chatting with friends at workplace would be a hindrance to productivity. I believe that's why people used it in the beginning.
- inactive, on 06/11/2008, -0/+5Welcome to the world of research. My faith in science was pretty much destroyed after working as a research assistant for a year. Just like on here, they need the research papers to go "viral" i.e. spread to different journals and get their names out there. Not that anyone is lying about things, but there's definitively an incentive for coming up with spectacular conclusions and counter intuitive numbers.
- inactive, on 06/11/2008, -1/+5Toby: One thing you're going to want to look out for is carpal tunnel syndrome, so it's recommended that you take a ten minute break from typing every hour. For your circulation, um, you're gonna wanna get up out of your chairs and move around about ten minutes every hour.
Michael Scott: Yes. Good. Fine. Like stretching.
Toby: Um, yeah. Your computer screen can be a big strain on your eyes, so it's also recommended that you step away for about 10 minutes every hour.
Michael Scott: Wow. That time really adds up. Like a half an hour every hour?
Darrly: Take them at the same time! - lordewoks, on 06/11/2008, -0/+4This just in: A Similar Study Finds Digg.com Hurts Productivity!
- inspecality, on 06/11/2008, -0/+4I'm a senior in high school and you could not be more accurate with that assessment of that assessment.
- inactive, on 06/11/2008, -0/+4I guess I'm old school, but why not get off your fat ass and go talk to your co-worker in the cubicle next to you instead of IM chatting?!
- inactive, on 06/11/2008, -0/+4Because you don't want a cordless monitor thrown at your head.
- ThreeDee912, on 06/11/2008, -1/+4Uhm... correlation does not imply causation...
- inactive, on 06/11/2008, -2/+5It also makes sense because it cuts back on the company's phone bill. A no-brainer, really.
- easygravy, on 06/11/2008, -0/+3I think using SMS helps productivity in communicating with recent graduates. I have found that some young people I work with are more likely to communicate through SMS than in person. SMS has definitely replaced email as the communication tool (along with social networking) for current university students.
- cosmicr, on 06/11/2008, -0/+3my old work insisted that I had trillian open at all times - I hated it. I like my peace and quiet whilst being at my desk. I hope IM doesnt become a standard at workplaces - its bad enough answering constant emails.
- jjgames, on 06/11/2008, -4/+7I always felt this was true from my own experience. I use it all the time.
- ElBeh, on 06/11/2008, -0/+3So that means that procrastination helps to get things done?
Sweet! - akatherder, on 06/11/2008, -1/+4I regard IMs from my co-workers with as much disdain as popup ads.
- RyanBlack, on 06/11/2008, -0/+3But cybering with the chick in accounting is hawt!
- bradysdaman, on 06/11/2008, -0/+3I'm a senior in college and you could not be more accurate with that assessment.
- Atomic1fire, on 06/11/2008, -0/+3Internal IM sounds like the best idea in this case
No outward distractions (like with gtalk,Aim,msn,yahoo,icq, jabber stuff like jabber bots because its best not to twitter at work when you are supposed to be working, remind me if I forgot anything else)
mostly better guaranteed uptime (your paying someone you can personally fire unless you outsource but you can threaten a change in product) - Gowmars, on 06/11/2008, -0/+3Everyone in my office uses AIM. It's alot easier to contact each other that way instead of calling their desk. Some of our customers also use it too to contact us. It's so convenient to ask someone in the office a question on AIM while your on the phone with a customer instead of having to put them on hold.
- solarisom, on 06/11/2008, -0/+2I wish this were true, but I have to say:
Worst. Study. Ever. - m1ss1ontomars, on 06/12/2008, -0/+2That's certainly not true for me.
- Netrilix, on 06/12/2008, -0/+2Extremes are nearly always bad though. If people are taught to use it properly, it's a great tool.
- troymccluresf, on 06/11/2008, -0/+2IM is useful? No *****.
- lordewoks, on 06/11/2008, -0/+2The beauty of IM at work is that it is normally asynchronous. You respond to the message when you are ready to read it, as opposed to when you get a phone call, in which you have to drop everything to answer.
my 2 cents... - cadmiumpaint, on 06/11/2008, -2/+4I disagree 10000000% I worked at a company where we were encouraged (practically required) to communicate with coworkers via IM. The idea was that walking around from cubicle to cubicle and physically talking was a distraction and encouraged others to do the same. By keeping us chained to our computers like good worker bees we'd be more productive. Also, because we could IM each other files we were working on etc etc. It was supposed to double our productivity and encourage real time collaboration. All requests for time off and other things like that had to be offically submitted via IM so that it could be "recorded". You couldn't walk into your manager's office and ask him if you could leave an hour early to go to the doctor...had to IM it. Yes they paid a consultant a ton of money to teach them that...
anyhow, IM at work was horrible. So distracting. I spent more time looking at youtube links from coworkers than discussing work things. More gossiping, more BS, less work. No one got anything done and after 6 months the company was in real trouble because we weren't meeting deadlines for clients. Its a constant distraction and it made me hate IM. I hated being told that I couldn't talk to someone sitting next to me...i had to IM them. How stupid is that? It made me hate IM and I hardly ever use it anymore. (i used to have it on every second of every day including mobile)
in conclusion. The study is wrong. - mburk, on 06/12/2008, -0/+2Wow, your mother lives for danger.
- mile, on 06/12/2008, -1/+3Absolutely not. Its rude, and very typical of today's "I want it now" mentality. When people begin texting others while talking to me, I end the conversation and walk away. I cant tell you how many folks have lost my business over it. Wake up folks, normal people HATE you're texting - especially when you're speaking with us at the same time. Oh, also, dont think we know you dolts are texting AND trying to drive at the same time. Your driving abilities sucked prior to texting coming along and they suck even more now. And, the rest of us will be calling cops.
- bobcrotch, on 06/12/2008, -0/+2The best part is that the data was gathered via phone, so that pretty much invalidates it.
- inactive, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1OM NOM NOM NOM NOM
- inactive, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1And get those damn kids off my lawn
- Ossuary, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1I just can't see how they get accurate info.
I cannot tell you how many times I have had users install one IM client or the the other and then complain about their computer running slow. Sure it is not the client, but the damned crap Microsoft, AOL, and others package along with the actual IM client.
If the IM client is centrally handled and outside world IM is locked down, then it could POSSIBLY be useful. However right now my folks are mainly chatting it up to Aunt Sue or friends and not doing a damned bit of actual work. Got to find out how those soap operas went yesterday after all! - lateralus, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1the study also said most IM sessions at work start with "a/s/l/pic?"
- bl4k3r, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1Instant messenging with my grilfriend certainly does not help my workplace productivity .
- dives425, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1I am so lazy I IM "yt?" to someone who is 5 feet away, so I don't have to stand up and see if they are in their cube.
- wilfordsy, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1Indeed. Why the hell can't I leave my keyboard!
- smokingmole, on 06/11/2008, -0/+1haha! sweeet
- Netrilix, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1Where I work, it depends on what I'm doing. If I have to go over something long, I'll walk to the person's office. If it's "Hey, what are we putting for field 42 on form 3427 for customer 43062?", I'll send an IM. Also, nothing beats IM for when you or the person you need to talk to is working from home. I'll admit that I have a few personal IMs going, but I get my work done quickly enough that it doesn't matter. My predecessor and I have streamlined so much of the job that we don't feel bad taking a few minutes of personal time when we've just finished a huge stack of paperwork.
- funkdr, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1umm what was i just doing??
- ThreeDee912, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1Related:
http://www.mikerichardson.name/tidbits/asl.jpg - liquisoft, on 06/12/2008, -0/+1It helps when you're talking with your coworkers about work. Getting IMs from people I don't know really gets in the way.
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