If anyone had any doubts that instant messaging and presence awareness are at the core of effective online collaboration, here is a short but well designed Flash animated presentation that shows with a really simple example how instant messenger ARE NOT instruments "reserved to kids who want to throw away their time with silly emoticons."

There is a lot more to be understood and appreciated about the power of instant messaging and around the fascinating concept of presence awareness.

For business people inside the enterprise or for research and publishing teams inside international organizations instant messaging is the ideal route for fast and swift collaboration, rapid meetings and decision making sessions, and also to exchange files and documents albeit with limited security.

Now that the large instant messaging companies have understood the potential they have in their hands, they need only to hook up with Web conferencing and real-time collaboration providers to "extend" the abilities and formats in which a mere text chat exchange can escalate into a full blown live visual meeting.

Instant messaging and presence awareness are the natural doors to full online collaboration activities and shared spaces in which enterprise documents are co-edited, annotated and marked, and where any sized group of people can discuss as easily in front of some slides as if it was meeting in the company best presentation room.

Instant messaging meets and marries the king of Web conferencing. Yahoo Messenger and WebEx make truly the best of partners. For a glimpse of your own future click here to see (http://enterprise.yahoo.com/flash/ ybm.html).