There was a time (most of us will remember) when if we wanted to speak with a friend, relative or business associate, we had to pick up the telephone and call them. If they weren’t there we were either out of luck, or fortunate enough to leave a message on a machine or with someone else. E-mail quickly changed the way we handled correspondence and was used by some for short “conversational” messages. Not until the advent of instant messaging, however, did true synchronous communication over the computer become a reality. But was messaging really the important part?

Not a chance! Sure, instant messaging has expanded our social interactions, connected people across the world, and recently changed the way business organizations interact, but what was the real paradigm shift? The answer: Presence.

At no time in the past or present, with the exception of face to face interactions, did we have the ability to determine the availability of the user with whom we desired to interact. Presence cues provided by instant messaging applications allow us to know whether a user is physically present, available to be interrupted, or too busy to expect a reply.

Sure, today’s presence models are somewhat flawed. Most of us have used an instant messaging application, great or small, where we have either logged in, set our presence to “online”, and walked away without ever changing it. In fact, most applications do this for you! Building confidence in the accuracy of such presence modeling systems is a discussion for another posting; however, it is a topic I address extensively in my research paper available here.

What have been your experiences with presence? How do you feel presence systems in existence today could be improved?