Instant Messengers

AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) - the popular instant messenger tool by AOL, which you can use without the need to be an AOL customer. It is one of the oldest IM's out there and has a lot of plug-ins available for customization and enhancement of the basic IM services.
Google Talk or GTalk is only a small competitior in comparison to AIM, Y! and MS, but it has its uses, especially if you use it integrated with free or commercial Google product "Google For Your Domain".
ICQ - The instant messenger classic. The name ICQ is an oronym on the phrase "I seek you". An israelian company called Mirabilis released the first version of ICQ in November 1996. AOL acquired Mirabilis in 1998.
Microsoft Live Messenger (now compatible with Y! Messenger) - You probably have an old version still on your computer if you run Windows XP. It comes with MS Messenger by default.
Skype - at Skype.com, also allows Land Line Phone Calls. Skype became the first popular internet phone dialer to call free pc-2-pc and even for free to US and Canadian land lines. The voice land line phone calls are unfortunately not free anymore.
Trillian - by Cerulean Studios is compatible with: AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo Messenger and IRC (no Skype).
Yahoo! Messenger (now compatible with MS Messenger) - The hip, works together with Yahoo!'s 360 degrees social networking community and of course with My Yahoo!

ONE Instant Messenger Tool to Use Them All!
I recommend Trillian to all affiliate managers out there, for high availability via IM, to your affiliates.
Trillian does not support Skype by default, but there is a free add-on called SkyLian (beta), written by Nicolas Begorre, which is available on his website for download. The add-on integrates Skype into Trellian V3, but not as nice as the other instant messenger services. You must have Skype installed also though.
Please see the SkyLian setup and configuration guides for details.

Affiliate AIM List (AOL Instant Messenger) - AMs (affiliate program managers) and affiliates with first and last name, company and current online status
Affiliate Skype List is exactly working like the Affiliate AIM List, but is for users of the popular instant messenger tool Skype

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Additional Useful Resources