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Microsoft, which released these figures last week, said that there are 1.3 million users of the free service in Singapore, and they are online for an average of 12 hours a day. The number of messages sent puts Singapore's well-documented obsession with SMS texts in the shade: Though there are six million mobile phone accounts here, just one billion text messages were sent each month last year.

Such peer-to-peer networks really increase the chances of viruses, malware and other cyberthreats flowing into the office system and attacking it.'

IM’s growing acceptance in business is that it allows for real time communication and information flow.

IM is an easy alternative to emails and phone calls. An email has a more formal “in black and white” connotation while phone calls are more personal and intrusive. IM, on the other hand can get fast responses from people who take forever to respond to an email or those that ignore phone calls. And it’s hard to ignore a popup window or flashing button waiting for your response! So the tendency is to just respond. The immense popularity of texting or SMS in Singapore is a further extension of the comfort level of Singaporeans using chats to communicate.

IM’s informal evolution into a workplace tool means most users are unaware of potential risks. There could be information leakage – intentionally or accidentally, via your conversation partner or an eavesdropping third party and possibly; malware and security intrusions such as infiltration of worms, viruses, Spim (spam over IM) and hacking.