| Pages in topic: < [1 2 3] > | Poll: Which Instant Messaging Tool do you use most? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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Rebecca Garber 
Local time: 19:56
Member (2005)
German to English
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| Skype is for video | Jan 10, 2013 |
And I usually limit it to friends.
I use text messaging on the phone. Otherwise, email works fine for work, and leaves, if not a paper train, then a trail of electrons that can be preserved for 12 months prior to deletion.
| | | | Nikki Graham
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:56
Spanish to English
| Switch the pop-ups off | Jan 10, 2013 |
Robert Forstag wrote:
I very rarely use chats to communicate with clients, although there are some PM's who insist on having my Skype address. This results in the mild irritation of the small pop-ups in the lower right-hand corner of the computer screen notifying me that a PM who who sends me a job once in a blue moon, whom I have no interest in chatting with, and who has no interest in chatting with me, is online.
Come to think of it, I think I'll delete these contacts so that I no longer have those distractions.
If you find them annoying (as I do), go to Tools - Options - Notifications and switch the pop-ups off. You can then only be notified if someone actually wants to contact you.
[Edited at 2013-01-10 14:37 GMT]
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I have Yahoo but never use the chat, same with Gmail.
I also had MSN messenger, but SKYPE and messenger are merging anyways, so it's sort of like imo Messenger. ALl your contacts can be imported to SKYPE.
ICQ is the one I have never used.
| | | | Rolf Kern
Switzerland
Local time: 01:56
English to German
+ ...
In memoriam
But only for personal communication within the family. I block all the unknown ladies that want me to communicate with them.
[Bearbeitet am 2013-01-10 16:32 GMT]
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Nigel Greenwood wrote:
Whatsapp?
[Edited at 2013-01-10 08:14 GMT]
Whatsapp here, occasionally Skype.
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Skype is great for working on a team. It is also useful to communicate with some special clients and family or close friends. However, the only down side is that every day I get two or three unsolicited "Please add me to your contacts" messages from people I do not know, which I mark as "Ignore".
| | | | | Just my thought. | Jan 10, 2013 |
Nigel Greenwood wrote:
Whatsapp?
[Edited at 2013-01-10 08:14 GMT]
Right now, I use Whatsapp a lot. Not for work, though.
| | | | Robert Forstag
United States
Local time: 19:56
Spanish to English
+ ...
Nikki Graham wrote: Robert Forstag wrote:
I very rarely use chats to communicate with clients, although there are some PM's who insist on having my Skype address. This results in the mild irritation of the small pop-ups in the lower right-hand corner of the computer screen notifying me that a PM who who sends me a job once in a blue moon, whom I have no interest in chatting with, and who has no interest in chatting with me, is online.
Come to think of it, I think I'll delete these contacts so that I no longer have those distractions. If you find them annoying (as I do), go to Tools - Options - Notifications and switch the pop-ups off. You can then only be notified if someone actually wants to contact you. [Edited at 2013-01-10 14:37 GMT]
Thanks, Nikki. 
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Allison Wright (X)
Portugal
Local time: 00:56
| Trust exists | Jan 10, 2013 |
Sounds as if a lot of people here don't trust their clients if they need to have an email trail of everything all the time.
I do trust my clients, but I also find the "paper trail" useful when putting together invoice details: number of words, date & time received, and date & time delivered (and rate if different from normal for regular clients, or a new client). If I am very busy, I might forget to put one of these details on my handwritten register. I cannot rely on cyberspace to save that for me!
I have also found Skype very useful (videocall and/or telephone) for pre-assignment chats on longer editing assignments, since a discussion face to face can be very helpful in making sure you and the client are both working towards the same objective. It is well worth the time spent talking.
I always follow up a Skype chat of that nature with an e-mail, giving a bullet-point summary of our conversation.
This is not a demonstration of a lack of trust. It is merely a formal way of placing the conversation on record. This used to be standard practice in business years ago, when corporate types would always write a letter to the person with whom they met in which they would incorporate the salient points agreed in their last meeting, and note any reservations, etc. As far as I am aware, this is still standard business practice - or have I suddenly become old-fashioned?
| | | | | I am surprized | Jan 11, 2013 |
Hi,
Honestly.. I am..
I think nobody is using facebook for instant messaging.
Good!
Facebook only for wasting peoples time
But I know... You all are using in one way or another face mesaging
Good luck!
Nizam Yigit
| | | | Julian Holmes
Japan
Local time: 08:56
Member (2011)
Japanese to English
| Not old-fashioned at all | Jan 11, 2013 |
Allison Wright wrote:
This used to be standard practice in business years ago, when corporate types would always write a letter to the person with whom they met in which they would incorporate the salient points agreed in their last meeting, and note any reservations, etc. As far as I am aware, this is still standard business practice - or have I suddenly become old-fashioned?
This is still a standard practice or should be at least as far as I am concerned since it leaves no doubt in the event of a dispute.
Telephone lines can be poor, especially with Skype, which I would only use with my overseas customers if I had it. Occasionally I get calls from overseas on Skype and I can hardly hear what's being said over the persistent background hissing noise.
A paper trail is the only way to go since everything is crystal clear to both parties and the "he said, she said" divorce settlement kind of wrangling after a minor misunderstanding has become a critical error is prevented at an early stage. IMHO
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 00:56
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Not a question of trust or lack of it | Jan 11, 2013 |
Nikki Graham wrote:
Sounds as if a lot of people here don't trust their clients if they need to have an email trail of everything all the time. Obviously, I wouldn't agree to an assignment on Skype with someone I had never worked with before without a PO or email conformation, but I am happy to agree to jobs using Skype with my regular clients.
As Julian and Alison have already said, it's just correct operating procedure. Rather than calling it old-fashioned, I'd call it part of the QA process, and we're all supposed to sign up to that nowadays.
I trust my regular clients as much as I trust myself. That's to say, I expect them to have imperfect memories; I expect them to contradict themselves from time to time; I expect them to change their minds; I expect them to communicate their thoughts imperfectly (particularly when they're the ones using a foreign language); I expect them to make as many typos as I make (critical in dates and rates)...
Above all, I believe they benefit from that audit trail as much as I do: I'm certainly not looking at it as a way of trapping them into admitting their failings.
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Nikki Graham
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:56
Spanish to English
| For the record | Jan 11, 2013 |
I never said keeping a paper trail of every conversation you have is old-fashioned, but it is not something I do. Having the PO from the client or the main email/document detailing the job, number of words and rate/total price is enough for me, so no, I don't keep a record of everything.
This poll does not concern Skype as a telephone service but rather as an IMS. Therefore, although I agree with Julian that the sound quality can be poor depending on device used and location, the ma... See more I never said keeping a paper trail of every conversation you have is old-fashioned, but it is not something I do. Having the PO from the client or the main email/document detailing the job, number of words and rate/total price is enough for me, so no, I don't keep a record of everything.
This poll does not concern Skype as a telephone service but rather as an IMS. Therefore, although I agree with Julian that the sound quality can be poor depending on device used and location, the main issue here is whether Skype is an effective instant messaging tool for business use. As such, Skype has options to keep a record of all messages you have ever received/sent. They do not immediately disappear. That is why I would not waste my or my client’s time doing a follow-up email summarising the conversation. In addition, any messages on Skype can easily be copied and pasted in a Word document if the need arises to ensure there is a paper trail for later possible dispute purposes. I actually find that it is much easier to clarify details with clients on Skype because it is instant (unlike email, people can take ages to reply) and you can nitpick everything someone says right there and then to make sure all is understood.
Anyway, perhaps it would be better just to all agree that we conduct our businesses differently, rather than to insinuate that those who do not do exactly as you do are failing to follow correct operating procedures and are lacking in the QA department. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Sheila Wilson
Spain
Local time: 00:56
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
| Record of all instant messages? | Jan 11, 2013 |
Nikki Graham wrote:
Skype has options to keep a record of all messages you have ever received/sent. They do not immediately disappear.
I didn't know about that. Do other IMS have the same functionality? To me, that makes a definite difference.
Anyway, perhaps it would be better just to all agree that we conduct our businesses differently, rather than to insinuate that those who do not do exactly as you do are failing to follow correct operating procedures and are lacking in the QA department.
I know I wasn't insinuating anything of the sort, Nikki, I can assure you of that. I was just saying that it's part of my QA procedure; you have different QA procedures, and I'm sure they're equally effective.
| | | | Nikki Graham
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:56
Spanish to English
| Skype options | Jan 12, 2013 |
Sheila Wilson wrote: Nikki Graham wrote:
Skype has options to keep a record of all messages you have ever received/sent. They do not immediately disappear. I didn't know about that. Do other IMS have the same functionality? To me, that makes a definite difference.
For those interested, in Skype go to Tools - Options - Privacy and then about halfway down, on the right you will see "Keep history for" with various options, one of which is "forever".
I don't know whether other IMS allow you to keep records of messages.
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