Workers are spending much more time with their instant messaging programs, according to a report by Jupiter Media Metrix.
The Internet research firm said yesterday that the number of minutes people spent instant messaging at work doubled to 4.9 billion from September 2000 to September 2001. The number of unique users at work rose 34 percent to 13.4 million.
Minutes spent at home instant-messaging rose 48 percent to 13.6 billion from a year earlier.
The report found that AOL Time Warner's instant messaging service is the leading brand at home and work but that rivals Yahoo and Microsoft are increasing both their reach and total usage minutes.
