I recently moved from using pidgin to using bitlbee (net-im/bitlbee). Bitlebee is sweet because it allows me to access “traditional IM” via [irssi][4] in a screen session from anywhere that I am via my co-located server. Of course, you can use any irc client that you are familiar with. As more and more of my friends move away from traditional IM, I don’t feel a need to pay as much attention to the various networks.