Why do you use ICQ?
 

Hi all,

My name is Taylor Wofford. I'm a journalist. I work at Newsweek magazine. I've done a bit of work on the adult entertainment industry in the past, and I've always wondered: why do you use ICQ? Hardly anybody seems to use ICQ these days, except the adult industry, in which everybody uses it.

Why is that? If you want to talk to me for an article I'd like to write, you can reach me by email at [email protected]. And feel free to google me, or find me on Newsweek. Thanks!

I dont use ICQ...

Most of my biz partners and fellow webmasters still use it and it's fine for my needs.

Why wouldn't I?

Do you think there's a reason people in this industry seem to use it when it doesn't get used much elsewhere, at least not in the US?

Although we offer skype, many (big) affiliates who promote SeeMyBucks still using ICQ. It's fast, safe and it works. As affilaite's program, the key is to offer many ways to contact you and ICQ is one of them. I prefer skype.

:thumbsup

Why do you think that is, when Skype is (in my opinion) easier to use and more 'modern'?

There has been a thread about it, quite a number of webmasters no longer use it, so it is not "everybody".
Just 2 cents.

Ps: I use it because I do not want to mix it with my mainstream business as well as with personal skype account.

just because some of my clients use icq, not other reason

It's like an adult industry tradition. People have been using since forever and it's hard to break away from it.

Was trendy in 1999, oldschoold in 2005 and now i suppose it's a nostalgia of the old time when you could make money with porn.

9 posts in 11years :thumbsup

Do you have a link to that thread, by any chance?

Hit me up on ICQ and I will tell you everything you want to know. :)

(I was also a journalist tho never wrote for Newsweek. Does the Post still own them?)

I use it also but not very often

For some reason, Russian webmasters prefer icq before skype

why limit your communications by any means? will your article only work on internet explorer exclusively?

The Russians own it -- I have to play all sides :OP

ICQ works well on LINUX the MicroCrap Skype doesn't.

Maybe because ICQ is still somewhat used in Russia in general.

Easier to hack and spam?

People who have been in the business for a long time started using it because that's the only option we had then. There was AOL instant messenger but it was just too...childish I suppose? I never did like it.

Today, all of my old contacts are still on ICQ. I rarely turn on Skype except for personal use. Maybe segregation between my fellow porn slingers and my personal contacts is why I still use it.

How much of the porn industry is run by Russians?

Because you don't know any other technology that exists. :P

I prefer Skype.

personally not a HUGE fan of it, prefer skype - but tons of my contacts use it - its very relevant on this biz

EXACTLY. When I started back in this business in 1999,ICQ was the only way to go.

For my non-adult I use Skype but ICQ has stuck around in adult since it works and why change?



.

Here you go -- https://gfy.com/fucking-around-and-pr...57331-icq.html

In addition to the reasons mentioned, Skype was lagging behind in one fundamental area: Offline messages. The way it handled offline messages made communicating across multiple timezones via the platform less reliable. Their cloud-based history has since resolved this issue and most of their recent updates have been solid across all platforms, even after MS acquired them.

I haven't used ICQ more than a handful of times in the past year.

I only use smoke signals!

http://i.imgur.com/h6sjE6L.jpg

:winkwink:

Because you can buy 6 digit ICQ names on eBay and appear to be legit and long time in the biz, even when you're not.

Nice ICQ Number Nummer 6 Digits Invisible UIN to Buy | eBay

I used ICQ for a while, it seemed more popular in the Eastern Countries.

So newsweek will have an article about adult webmasters using ICQ?

haven't used it since about 2005

Because I have a lot of affiliates that contact me from there, they don't use email too much..

skype seems much easier to use

faster than email fuk skype

I like ICQ, it's old school pimp. Skype is ok for certain things. But cell phone, tablet and Mac I like ICQ. I wish more used it.

I'm just doing preliminary research right now, and I can't say who will publish something if I decide to write it.

I Still have 2 ICQ accounts (one personal and one for the industry) but there's not much happening on there currently.
I mostly use Skype.

I quit using ICQ in 2003.

You should probably add that you quit it for email and not for some other IM though. :)
There were no other widely used IM for adult people back then.

The US isn't the entire world.

So long as some people in the industry use it, will will continue to. IMO I prefer it to Skype for chat. For cam chat, prefer Skype.

Skype is a piece of shit.

I haven't used if for maybe 3 years, dumped them all, I only use skype.

It's probably about the decline of the industry.

How it *was* cutting-edge but social media's taken over. He's not the first mainstreamer to comment on the ICQ thing, like it's a symptom of the decline.

I am not sure. ICQ is being used less because of new alternatives.
If you talk about declining numbers of webmasters why talk it through the numbers of ICQ users? Just talk about declining numbers of webmasters.
That would be ridiculous - Some webmasters are switching to skype because adult industry is declining, lol. And some are staying on ICQ, menaing those are staying strong, lol.

Even the original quote does not imply anything like that, it was simply:

why do you use ICQ? Hardly anybody seems to use ICQ these days, except the adult industry, in which everybody uses it.

You ask a lot of questions.

The point (I think) is that to an outsider, the use of ICQ is dated.

Especially to someone from the media or social media, who want to present themselves as the driving force of the web. Just my :2 cents:

it works, i have a few hundred contacts sorted in folder (using Trillian Astra client) which is a huge hassle if not impossible in Skype, it uses much less resources than Skype, some older clients don't use anything else than ICQ

it's about practicability, not fashion

Why not?