I think a big part of why IM has lost so much ground to SMS and social networks is that users can easily 'disconnect' without feeling guilty about it. Until re

I think a big part of why IM has lost so much ground to SMS and social networks is that users can easily 'disconnect' without feeling guilty about it. Until recently, I'd always have my IM status set to invisible to avoid getting sucked into unwanted conversations - there's usually only a few people I'm actually interested in talking to. I only changed this behavior after removing everyone I didn't actually talk to, since social networks now take care of loose social connections for me and I can avoid needless banter.