Usage share of instant messaging clients
Encyclopedia
This is a table comparing the different instant messenger
clients available.
Instant messaging
Instant Messaging is a form of real-time direct text-based chatting communication in push mode between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients. The user's text is conveyed over a network, such as the Internet...
clients available.
| Instant messenger client | Company | Usage | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| AIM AOL Instant Messenger AOL Instant Messenger is an instant messaging and presence computer program which uses the proprietary OSCAR instant messaging protocol and the TOC protocol to allow registered users to communicate in real time. It was released by AOL in May 1997... |
AOL, Inc AOL AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services... |
53 million active users, "over 100 million" total | |
| XMPP Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol is an open-standard communications protocol for message-oriented middleware based on XML . The protocol was originally named Jabber, and was developed by the Jabber open-source community in 1999 for near-real-time, extensible instant messaging , presence... |
XMPP Standards Foundation XMPP Standards Foundation XMPP Standards Foundation is the foundation in charge of the standardization of the protocol extensions of XMPP, the open standard of instant messaging and presence of the IETF.- History :... |
800+ million | This number is based on the number of Facebook accounts and Gmail.com accounts. Further, as there are many other open source servers (some also with companies behind it), the number provided is probably too small. |
| eBuddy EBuddy eBuddy is a privately held company which owns a browser-based web and mobile messenger service supporting various instant messaging services. eBuddy was launched in 2003 under the name e-Messenger, located at www.e-messenger.net, before rebranding itself in 2006 to eBuddy.eBuddy supports Windows... |
eBuddy EBuddy eBuddy is a privately held company which owns a browser-based web and mobile messenger service supporting various instant messaging services. eBuddy was launched in 2003 under the name e-Messenger, located at www.e-messenger.net, before rebranding itself in 2006 to eBuddy.eBuddy supports Windows... |
35 million users (including 4 million mobile) | |
| MSN MSN MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its... |
Microsoft Corporation | 330 million active every month (jun 2009)> | |
| Yahoo! Messenger Yahoo! Messenger Yahoo! Messenger is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!... |
Yahoo!, Inc. | 22 million users | |
| Tencent Holdings Limited | 61.3 million peak online users, 448 million "active" | ||
| IBM Lotus Sametime IBM Lotus Sametime IBM Sametime is a client–server application and middleware platform that provides real-time, unified communications and collaboration for enterprises. Those capabilities include presence information, enterprise instant messaging, web conferencing, community collaboration, and telephony capabilities... |
IBM Corp. IBM International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas... |
15 million (enterprise) users | |
| Skype Skype Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chat over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system... |
Skype Limited | 23 million peak online, 560 million total (April 2010) | |
| MXit MXit MXit is a free instant messaging application developed by MXit Lifestyle Ltd. in South Africa that runs on multiple mobile and computing platforms... |
MXit Lifestyle (Pty) Ltd. | 14 million users (majority in Southern Africa Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN... , more than 1.3 million international) |
MXit federates with the Google Talk network. |
| Xfire Xfire Xfire is a proprietary freeware instant messaging service for gamers, that also serves as a game server browser and has various other features. It is currently available for Microsoft Windows. Xfire was originally developed by Ultimate Arena based in Menlo Park, California... |
Xfire, Inc. | 6.1 million users (January 2007) | |
| Gadu-Gadu Gadu-Gadu Gadu-Gadu is a Polish instant messaging client using a proprietary protocol. Gadu-Gadu is the most popular IM service in Poland, with over 15 million registered accounts and approximately 6.5 million users online daily. Gadu-Gadu’s casual gaming portal had some 500,000 active users at the end of... |
GG Network S.A. | 5.6 million users | |
| ICQ ICQ ICQ is an instant messaging computer program, which was first developed and popularized by the Israeli company Mirabilis, then bought by America Online, and since April 2010 owned by Mail.ru Group. The name ICQ is a homophone for the phrase "I seek you"... |
ICQ LLC. | 4 million active | |
| Paltalk Paltalk Paltalk Messenger, or simply referred to as Paltalk, is an Internet chat service that allows users to communicate via instant messaging, voice and video chat. It offers thousands of chat rooms and the ability for users to create their own virtual chat room on any topic and category... |
Paltalk.com | 3.3 million unique visitors per month | |
| PSYC | PSYC | 1 million users, daily (majority in Brazil Brazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people... ) |
Total amount of users cannot be estimated due to the decentralized nature of the protocol. |
| Meebo Meebo Meebo is a social platform connecting users with their friends across the web. It began in 2005 as a browser based instant messaging program which supported multiple IM services, including Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, AIM, ICQ, MySpaceIM, Facebook Chat, Google Talk, CafeMom and... |
Meebo, Inc. | 1 million users | |
| IMVU IMVU IMVU, Inc. is an online social entertainment destination in which members use 3D avatars to meet new people, chat, create, and play games created by Fydor Guthenschlag. IMVU has over 50 million registered users, 10 million unique visitors per month and three million monthly active users... |
IMVU, inc. | 1 million users |
External links
- "Global Instant Messaging Market Share" - CC-Licensed market shareMarket shareMarket share is the percentage of a market accounted for by a specific entity. In a survey of nearly 200 senior marketing managers, 67 percent responded that they found the "dollar market share" metric very useful, while 61% found "unit market share" very useful.Marketers need to be able to...
data.