Social networking enables business owners to answer direct enquiries from colleagues, clients and potential new prospects. Timezones are less important when you can login to your instant messenger, see another user and chat real-time. With your IM client, you can swap notes, bring other people in to the meeting, get instant answers to technical queries and even swap files and documents.
Problem is, when you try and connect to your colleagues, everyone has their own idea of what they regard as their choice in instant messenger. Some use Windows Live, others AIM, some Google Talk, others IRC. Factor in the personal networking tools, MySpace and Facebook, and you’ll find that there’s no easy way of connecting to every colleague through one client.
Pidgin attempts to re-address this by enabling you to use one instant messenger to connect to multiple people through different networks. A full list of supported networks can be found on the Pidgin website, but one network that isn’t supported is Skype and it’s a big disappointment. Other multi-network IM clients such as Trillian Astra support Skype, Facebook and other popular networks. No doubt the Trillian guys have paid a license to support Skype as it’s a proprietary network.
Pidgin is free, doesn’t contain any adverts and ships with a very simple interface.
Verdict:
Decent and free tool that enables you to chat to other users across other IM networks. Doesn't support Skype though, used by many business users to keep in touch with key contacts
Your Comments & Opinion
Chat to users across multiple networks using this messenger tool
Chat to users across multiple networks using this messenger tool
A Chrome extension for chatting, video calling and more
Connect to and chat with colleagues across multiple networks with this client
Use this cross-platform multi-network IM client to keep in touch with other users
Keep using Windows Live Messenger even after Microsoft shuts it down
Chat with your friends and colleagues using text or video
Chat with your friends and colleagues using text or video
Manage your multi-monitor installation from one simple tool
Manage your multi-monitor installation from one simple tool
Test drive the latest multi-protocol chat and social networking tool