From Brandon De Hoyos,
Your Guide to Instant Messaging.
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Updated April 19,2008 at Noon EST. VOTING HAS NOW CLOSED. Check back Monday, April 21st to find out the winners of our first IM BEST AWARDS! Thanks for voting!

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In March 2008, we asked our readers to nominate their favorite instant messengers in six categories for our first ever IM Best Awards, a celebration of the best in the IM industry. After an overwhelming response, the nominations have finally been tabulated and the results are in!

In addition to a number of veteran instant messengers, this year’s list features many third-party clients, one even sweeping five out of six categories with six total nominations!

And now it is up to you, reader, to decide just who will be named winners in our IM Best Awards for 2008. Ladies and gentleman, your nominees are…

Best Instant Messenger Experience

• Digsby
• Meebo
• Yahoo! Messenger 9.0
• Windows Live Messenger

Most Improved Instant Messenger

• Coccinella
• Digsby
• Meebo
• Pidgin 2.0

Best Mac Instant Messenger

• Adium
• iChat
• Yahoo! Messenger for Mac

Best Third-Party IM

• Adium
• Digsby
• Meebo
• Miranda
• Pidgin

Best IM Feature

• In-Line Media Player, Yahoo! Messenger
• Off the Record Plugin, Digsby
• Social Networking/E-mail Integration, Digsby
• IM-to-Text Capabilities, Multiple Clients

IM Developers of the Year

• DotSyntax, for Digsby
• Evan Schoenberg and Team Adium, for Adium
• Mats Bengtsson, for Coccinella
• Team Meebo, for Meebo

  Thanks for Voting for your favorites in the 2008 IM Best Awards! Check back soon to see if your favorite IMs are among this year's best!