For me, IM is generally a distraction and a timesink, which is why I've opted to uninstall any IM clients and instead do all my interactions through mail, it saves time.
I just don't see how this has any value but I'm willing to be proven wrong.
You mentioned you lost your clients? How? (just curious)
My point is that IM only becomes a distraction and a timesink when you have human contacts (especially ones with too much free time).
However, I think that in the vast majority of cases, people will have people on their IM clients (which is why I said generally) and that is when things go pear shaped quickly.
It just seems like the idea was poorly conceived
Anyway, I don't mean to take too much of a jab at the OP. I have one of those ideas turned into products under my belt that turned out to be a complete wrong fit for what I was trying to achieve.
I think its best to just move on.
I've built something that I thought was brilliant, however when going through user testing it turned out the concept was flawed at its core.
I still think the idea has heaps of potential, but it turns out that unless I am able to fundamentally change the way people behave, that eventually I'll still be wrong.
I'm ok with being wrong, are you?