Yes let's all make robots out of ourselves. I don't see the issue in someone wanted to initiate an IM this way :

> "Hi, how are you doing?" > Meaning : I want to IM with you, are you available. In a polite way.

We're working remotely (for most of us), we already lost social link, so let along now just start directly requesting things from people.

For non IM related stuff there is a great tool call : EMAILS