Microsoft, Yahoo Strike Deal to Link IM Services

LA Times: MSFT and YHOO agreed to link their IM servies next spring. The LAT calls it a shot @ AIM, but I’m not sure AOL is even on MSFT’s radar screen at this point. Who else is MSFT going after? Burrows?

To the new lovers, the benefit of offering IM is easily quantifiable:

Instant messaging… has emerged as a popular and rapidly growing service that has boosted the number of visitors to the websites of the companies offering the online feature.

If IM is no more than another way to sell web site banner ads, they’re leaving opportunities on the table.

This would all have taken on a lot more gravity 18 months ago. Podcasting and blogs are an expanding exciting space, connecting strangers. IM is like a teenager’s cell phone—transient, insular and anti-social.