The first Instant messaging program was launched in 1993 – CU-SeeMe. Another popular IM Client called PowWow launched two years later. But it was not until AOL trademarked the ‘Instant Messenger’ service did the Instant messenging services really take off.

Here are the most popular IM clients today according to Pingdom (by number of registered users)

1. Skype : 560 million
2. Tencent QQ : 522 million
3. Live Messenger : 330 million
4. Yahoo Messenger : 94 million
5. AIM : 16.5 million

User Engagement
40 million logged in at the same time on Live Messenger (peak hours)
23 million logged in at the same time on Skype (peak hours)
100 million logged in at the same time on Tencent QQ (peak hours)

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