SURVEY: MANY IM USERS FIND IT A MIXED BLESSING



Survey: Many IM usersfind it a mixed blessing
NEW YORK -- One in five Americans who use instant-messaging programs do so at work, and most consider it a mixed blessing that can encourage gossip or add stress, a new survey from the Pew Internet and American Life Project finds.
Overall, the experience is positive: 11 percent of the at-work instant messengers consider the tool essential. Two-thirds consider IM mostly positive, but a mixed blessing. Half say it helps them save time, and 40 percent credit it for improving teamwork. But 32 percent say it encourages gossip, 29 percent consider it a distraction and 11 percent complain it's stress-inducing.
Pew researchers also found that a quarter of flash message users employ IM more frequently than e-mail -- it's 42 percent among those ages 18 to 27. Fifteen percent have done so wirelessly -- through a cell phone or laptop.
And while IM users may have growing "buddy lists" of contacts, two-thirds say they regularly IM one to five people. Only 9 percent say they regularly IM more than 10.
The telephone-based study of 1,399 Internet users, conducted in May and June, has an error margin of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Backing of spam campaignbrings criticism to official
SYDNEY, Australia -- Prime Minister John Howard has come under fire for bankrolling a pre-election spam campaign carried out by a company run by his son.
Howard's government recently outlawed spam but exempted political parties, charities and religious organizations. Still, the opposition Labor Party condemned the e-mail campaign.
"The prime minister has breached the spirit, if not the letter of anti-spam laws," said Labor's technology spokeswoman, Kate Lundy. "John Howard's government banned commercial spamming this year, but then the prime minister goes ahead and spams the public for political benefit. This is a clear case of double standards."
Howard's electronic messages also enraged an anti-spam activist who is seeking his legislative seat.
"It doesn't matter what the content is," Troy Rollo said. "It's using other people's resources, and it's clogging up the Internet."
Howard's government in April banned sending commercial electronic messages without the recipient's consent. Offenders face fines of up to $775,000.
The United States has a similar ban on unsolicited messages -- as well as a similar exemption for political spam.
Associated Press
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