Is there a trend that is slowly developing of users moving away from using AOL’s AIM? I don’t have hard data – so, this is a unscientific post. But, based on my friends’ usage and other young professionals I’ve heard from – the answer is a definite yes.

Being a 20 something, do you really want to have a massive list of contacts from college or all the way back to high school or even earlier (many of whom you really don’t care to hear from) IMing you? The likely answer is no. That is one reason why I believe a growing number of young professionals have stopped using AIM altogether.

Where are many of these young professionals turning to? Google, of course. Just as we became accustomed to using Google for search, many are turning to Google for other needs as well. Virtually everyone I know has a Gmail account, and for most it has become their primary email…that is when email is actually used instead of Facebook, but that’s a whole other topic.

Along with Gmail comes the ability to use gchat which is what many young professionals are now using for IMing…or more appropriately called gchatting. It’s very simple and can be used directly in Gmail or by downloading Google Talk.

And best of all – it doesn’t have your long list of “friends” from college, high school, or for some middle school. I suspect this will be a growing trend as more and more young adults enter the work force and start a new chapter in their lives.

So, will the term IMing be replaced by Gchatting? Who knows, but based on my unscientific data it would seem like it’s moving that way.