IM / Mobs

I am in the middle of reading Smart Mobs, by Howard Rheingold.

It's really interesting to think about ways that IM always on communication can change human behaviors.

I use IM a lot as some of my co-workers are on the other side of the globe. Without IM, there are a number of tasks that would be much harder if I had to rely on email, voicemail, or conference calls.

I think it would be really interesting to write a short story/novella all told with IM's. The only question I have is whether one could truly give the sense of the parallel conversations which might be taking place simultaneously.

It would be interesting to actually perform the story live like a play, but using an IM client. I suppose the stage would have to look like a desktop environment.