66% of teens send more IMs than e-mails

Instant messenger usage is up 19% YTY for 2005, America Online survey says. IM has taken over as the communications vehicle of choice with 25% of users saying they would also like to consume entertainment content within their IM service and 20% saying they would like to use IM to make voice calls to landlines and cell phones alike. 38% say they send as many or more IMs than emails. 66% of teens and young adults (ages 13-21) say they send more IMs than emails, up from 49% 2004. 53% of teens (ages 13-17) surveyed say their parents now issue guidelines and rules about instant messaging. Teen boys (55%) are more likely to have parental IM rules than are teen girls (50%), and fully 65% of teens who have rules say they follow them. 33% IM users send mobile IMs or text messages from their cell phones at least once a week. This is a dramatic increase over 2004, when just 19% said they do so, and 2003 when the figure was 10%.