Would you rather talk via ICQ or have a real phone conversation?
 

Although I'm barely in my 30's I was raised in, and spent most of my time in a work environment that relied on phones with multiple lines as our main source of communication. There was no IM in the early and mid 90's.

If you wanted to get things done you called or, gasp, set up a face to face meeting! That's the way it was, and still is in offline businesses. The phone and face to face meetings still rules.

But, in this biz it seems that most of the people are phone-averse. They don't like to be called... they would rather be contacted via IM. I see so many threads where people complain about a host or sponsor and say, "I can't contact anyone!" but they never even tried to call the toll free number on the site that a person picks up every time.

I thought of this because I recently had a text conversation with the owner of Autoblogger Pro. He suggested a phone conversation. That surprised me since NO ONE ever does that and I know he is a web based worker. Yunno what... we exchanged more info in that conversation than we could have in 10 IM sessions!

I'm not the only one thinking about this. One of my favorite tech related blogs Web Worker Daily recently had a thread on the subject.

What do you think about phones vs. electronic communication for biz? Do you still pick up a phone to do deals?

ICQ for me.

You can send URLs over the phone and stuff like that.

I don't even have a landline phone, and my cell phone reception is crappy here so I have to stand up from the computer or even worse go outside.

I find even in my other business I much prefer e-contact.

so, I would say, 24 hour ICQ contactability is a huge selling point to me when dealing with people in the business.... I don't really care about phone contact, I guess, it should be possible as a last resort, but ICQ much prefer

Hi jet, sorry about using such a similar handle, didn't realize :error

I mostly use ICQ, works best for my line of work with lot's of detailed instructions, web adresses and other stuff that is good to have in writing. Then of course there is the occasional skype call.

I cannot speak so voted for icq.

I never use phone

there are VERY few people in this biz that I let call me

EdgeProd
AaronM (I miss our late night phone seXors)
sarettah

maybe a couple more, but i don't mind the above because they don't seem to mind when I just sit there and don't say anything

but yes, I hate the phone, I would much prefer email or IM

also, ICQ saves history so you can always go back and re-read whatever was discussed

Looks like some people forget on gizmo/voip buster/skype.Why the fuck anyone should use phone?

dumbass, voip and skype are forms of te phone

gizmo/voip buster/skype... That's still the phone dude.

Maybe I should of asked who would rather use verbal communication? Does that sound better to you?

depends on the nature of the convo. if im talking to someone about something pretty important and have a lot of info to exchange, it easier on the phone. if its some annoying sales rep trying to get me to promote them or tell me about something they are now offering, i will hang up on them. icq is better for less important convos because you can do several at the same time as well as work on other stuff. if im talking on the phone i cant really multi task.

now that i think about it i hate email the most. if i need something i want an instant response. i always feel like an email is going to get lost or ignored.

ICQ is usually fine, but for certain business conversations you can cover a lot more ground quicker by phone. It's easier to make your meaning clearer on fine points of a deal when doing it by voice too, and more effective for avoiding misunderstandings.

Plus I can call anywhere in N America for free on my current plan.

I can go either way... love face to face meetings over all, but phone and IM are fine. Big bonus for me of IM over phone is chat histories...

meet in perzon, but lazy to travel out...

Most people are averse to giving out phone numbers because it is a piece of personal information that can be easily geographically traced, and if it's a landline, not easily discarded (i.e. you can turn off ICQ, but not a landline). The other advantage to ICQ, bar its more anonymous nature, is the fact that it logs all the conversation, and people can leave offline messages and later come back and see what they had said; you can't do that with voicemail and the like.

ICQ... I can have 7 conversations AND be doing some work all at the same time.

Put a phone in my hand and everything else comes to a stop until I'm done talking.

Check out Grand Central. You will never have that problem with them.

You can get too much info from a cell phone now a days so I give potentially shady characters and new chicks my Grand Central number instead of my office or cell number.

Not being female - I am unable to verbally communicate with 2 or more different people on different topics at the same time. However, when using IM or email, I can "appear" to have this incredible skill.

I prefer the telephone myself. Icq is good in all but its hard to get a feel for a person just by text. Also a lot of things get taking the wrong way on icq because you cant see the persons tone when they type or determine if they were joking or what. I think this why a lot of little pissing matches happen on gfy ....

Thanks for the site link, but unfortunately it isn't available over here yet. :(

I prefer to communicate via e-mail or in person.

My icq account got hacked and I never signed back up because I found it to be more of a timewaster than a useful tool.

I can't stand the telephone.

:2 cents:

I like ICQ better, mainly because I use the history feature ALOT
with a phonecall, you don't have much time to think or look something up as an answer is expected pretty fast ... with ICQ you can take your time, write something and as you write it go like "ah no, i'm not gonna say that" and just erase it :)

I prefer email and certainly ICQ for alot of things (work related).

would take much more time to setup a trade over the phone :)

This is true.

This is why I like the phone as well.

The tone of someone's voice tells so much. You can tell if someone is:

lying
angry
happy
sad
tired
anxious to buy/sell
exasperated
stupid

Those are all things that take longer to discern via text and are near impossible via email.

Knowing any of the above makes it easier to deal with the other person.

email.

With email, you have a record of the conversation / transaction, and are able to take time to think about your responses before sending.

Instant messengers suck ass and are for teenagers.

Phone is okay if it's an adult on the other end.

Anyone that knows me, knows I hate to type and prefer the phone. Wanna cyber?

phone calls take up to much time for me, icq,email,msn i find better :-)

icq :D

I rarely talk on the phone but i do if its for exclusive content shooting , everything else i prefer just instant messangers :) So i can
roll my eyes behind the screen ROFL ..... j.k

We started using unstant messengers to get away from constantly being on the phone and it was great! Plus it's nice having the history available...

I like both at the same time - Convo's / deals are faster on the phone for sure.

we have here different IMs, such as skype, icq, ym and also voip but i prefer to use IM's because we understand the conversation clearly.

depends... If I have to talk english, I prefer icq or msn

Depends on what I'm doing.... it's all about effeciency.

Typically, if it's 1-on-1... I prefer ICQ as it allows me to continue to multitask while I'm pausing in the conversation...

If I'm speaking to more than one person, or if it's something that requires my undivided attention, I prefer the phone, because talking is, generally, more efficient than typing.

I hate talking on the fucking phone, but for some reason I walk around all day with one in both of my pockets.

IM would be my choice, and thankfully both phones have that too!

For business I'd take ICQ anyday over a phone talk.

IMs work better for me because then I have a log of the conversation for reference later.

Yes,sorry but phone simply remind me to phone machine.I know voip can be also marked as telephony,but since voip didnt exits always and classic telephone exits for over 100 years,that is why i said that.Also since i voted for im,this would be changed my answer beacuse i more preffer voice/verbal communication.

Really depends. Sometimes we will talk on the phone while ICQing at the same time.

If it is something that doesn't require links, or is just too complicated to type out, the phone is preferred. If I am going to want a history, ICQ.

Not sure for business, but for personal, my texts out weigh my minutes 3 fold every month. Text are nice and short, get exactly what info i need and thats it. Phone convo's are full of, "how are you" and "whats new" and other shit I don't care about.

I would rather do business in email over either icq or the phone. I hate the phone, so icq would be my second choice.

If something is really, really important, a phone call with an email follow up to make sure that everyone is on the same page will work.

Depends on what's up, really. If it's a quick question, ICQ is fast and easy. If it's involved then pick up the phone.

It depends on what I am talking about, it's rather hard to send links over the phone.

rather rely back and fourth on the net

I rather use phone and if need be IM for sending links while on the phone.
I feel you can develop a better thought out and detailed deal while on the phone.

PS. Fuck skype and Voip.
PPS. Fuck multi tasking.