As many will agree, Instant messengers are the mostly widely used tools/gadgets in this internet age. These tools bring people closer and a way for those who aren't good at face-to-face communication ;-)
Well, keeping the benefits and advantages aside now, I would like to mention about one thing in IMs which is not followed in the right manner -- yes, few might have guessed it -- Status message option. Before proceeding let me tell you, this is just my personal opinion and not any standard specification :)
Status message option in IMs should be used to mainly show your current state(Busy, Available, Do Not Disturb etc) or to pass on some relevant information about yourself(Blog links, details about self, current stay etc) or something which helps to get some attention or information from your friends in the list.
Few status messages from my friends list which I feel are appropriate and interesting ones are:
- "I want my hour back!" Quite understandable during Daylight saving adjustment
- Link to their employer's website featuring them in headlines with a nice snap. Well, who doesn't want to do this if in headlines :)
- Link to their webpage or blog. Yes, this gives way to know them better
- Link to some interesting articles or cartoons Ex. http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2096/sarkozy.jpg
- "YooHoo.. I voted!! Awesome feeling!!" Quite timely as this being the election time in the country
- "Its a baby boy!!" Happy to know dear..
- Current music track. Talks about their taste and mood!
And now coming to what I hate to see in status messages is some famous, thoughtful quote; which will be borrowed from a website or from daily subscribed mails or from those thousands of floating mails. Whats more, the quote changes every single day like the change in date in your PC. Yes, I simply detest reading a quote though its quoted by some great philosopher or a great scientist. For that I can simply browse the net and get from the websites. And besides what really does the person wants to prove by having it mentioned there?!! This remains a mystery to me.
My status message reads about the track - Viva forever Spice-girls
Whats yours??
Well, keeping the benefits and advantages aside now, I would like to mention about one thing in IMs which is not followed in the right manner -- yes, few might have guessed it -- Status message option. Before proceeding let me tell you, this is just my personal opinion and not any standard specification :)
Status message option in IMs should be used to mainly show your current state(Busy, Available, Do Not Disturb etc) or to pass on some relevant information about yourself(Blog links, details about self, current stay etc) or something which helps to get some attention or information from your friends in the list.
Few status messages from my friends list which I feel are appropriate and interesting ones are:
- "I want my hour back!" Quite understandable during Daylight saving adjustment
- Link to their employer's website featuring them in headlines with a nice snap. Well, who doesn't want to do this if in headlines :)
- Link to their webpage or blog. Yes, this gives way to know them better
- Link to some interesting articles or cartoons Ex. http://img253.imageshack.us/img253/2096/sarkozy.jpg
- "YooHoo.. I voted!! Awesome feeling!!" Quite timely as this being the election time in the country
- "Its a baby boy!!" Happy to know dear..
- Current music track. Talks about their taste and mood!
And now coming to what I hate to see in status messages is some famous, thoughtful quote; which will be borrowed from a website or from daily subscribed mails or from those thousands of floating mails. Whats more, the quote changes every single day like the change in date in your PC. Yes, I simply detest reading a quote though its quoted by some great philosopher or a great scientist. For that I can simply browse the net and get from the websites. And besides what really does the person wants to prove by having it mentioned there?!! This remains a mystery to me.
My status message reads about the track - Viva forever Spice-girls
Whats yours??
Nice analysis. I tend to agree with you on most of the occassions. But sometimes I feel that even quotes bring out something in reality and something that might be happening to you. Though you are right, that putting quotes which does not make sense does not add value to this excellent add on, but on the other hand, if a person puts a justifiable quote, it makes a lot of sense as well. Though I see nobody does that, but I feel if that is the way people use it, it makes sense, brings out a positive energy, shares your presence with a golden arm and on top a good quote. This is again my personal opinion. But again yes you are right.
ReplyDelete@Nandy,
ReplyDeleteYes, right.. few times, a good quote brings in +ve energy. But what I want to emphasize is that the daily updates with a new quote, just for the sake of it, bothers me! :)
well, IMHO, quotes are good in status messages and i like it :)
ReplyDeleteinfact, it's better than the stupid "Viva forever Spice-girls" ;)
well, look who is talking about status messages in IM :).. the one who doesn't like to be online :-P
ReplyDeleteAnd BTW 'Viva forever Spice-girls' is not a msg/quote.. its the song which was being played while I was writing this post! :)
My status messages usually reflect my state of mind or current happenings in life. Be it bai not turning up or my weight loss or just a *yawn*
ReplyDeleteBTW I too hate quotes for mssgs...and sometimes I hate status mssgs which run into 2 pages..
Cool post :)
@Smita
ReplyDeleteWelcome!
'bai not turning up or my weight loss or just a *yawn*'.. Hell yeah! these are the imp msgs to be up there. :)
And yeah, I don't even allow my mouse to scroll to next page to read the long msgs ;-)
Well, I don't see anything to hate about when people keep updating it every time. The way I look at it is that... they might have come across an interesting line while browsing, etc. And they wanted others to know that they liked it a lot. And hence it comes into the status message.
ReplyDeleteReading it or not is just upto us :)
@Amruth,
ReplyDeleteWhatever may be the reason, i just dont like to see any quotes in the status :) And unfortunately it just shows up when anyone updates it.. so you ought to read it :(