Meebo

Many people are using instant messenger (IM) services, often to communicate with other professionals.  Having an IM account on Yahoo and AIM, for example, is nice, but who wants to have to remember to sign into every IM account that you own?  Many people are using services that allow you to use several IM services at once. I use Meebo.  Meebo allows me to use my AIM and Yahoo accounts at the same time (as well as others), and communicate with other people who are using Meebo. 

You can also setup and use Meebo chat rooms.  An informal group called "Library Society of the World" has a Meebo chat room, where information professionals from around the world gather to exchange information about libraries and so problem-solving.

Do you want people to be able to IM you without having an IM account anywhere?  Meebo Me is a widget that you can put on any web page that allows people to communicate with you through Meebo.  Some libraries are using this for IM reference.  I used it this past semester with my students, giving them one more way to communicate with me.  Now I've putting Meebo Me widgets on my web site contact page, giving people a quick way of talking to me.  I've already had two out-of-the-blue professional conversations with people I didn't know previously using Meebo Me.

If you are using several IMs, check out the tools that will allow you to do several at once.  If you don't like Meebo, there are other IM clients that you can check out.