Spim is the new spam

Instant messaging spam, or spim, will account for roughly five per cent of instant message traffic across public networks by year-end, a new report has claimed.

Spim is set to triple from 400 million messages in 2003 to 1.2 billion in 2004, according to research from Radicati.

Pornographic messages are estimated to make up around 70 per cent of spim, followed by get-rich-quick schemes at 12 per cent, product sales at nine per cent and financial messages at five per cent.

Almost all messages are short one-liners with a link attached.

Radicati advises that users are made aware of spim and that they do not click on strange links or those from unknown parties during an instant messaging session.