Pretty much all IM protocols have some channel functionality. It's just that the user experience in Skype and many other IM's is such, that it does not ecncourage users to join/create channel first. Rather they all try to get users to find their friends and chat one on one.
With IRC, all new users are told (by their friens and pretty much all tutorials) to join a channel first. Also web clients tend to ask user to give an channel to join before they can do anything. For me and many others IRC is channels first. Commercial IM systems are one-to-one first.
With IRC, all new users are told (by their friens and pretty much all tutorials) to join a channel first. Also web clients tend to ask user to give an channel to join before they can do anything. For me and many others IRC is channels first. Commercial IM systems are one-to-one first.