Instant messaging or IM is a form of real-time communication between two or more people based on typed text. The text is conveyed via computers connected over a network such as the Internet.
Instant messaging requires the use of a client program that hooks up an instant messaging service and differs from e-mail in that conversations are then able to happen in realtime. Most services offer a presence information feature, indicating whether people on one's list of contacts are currently online and available to chat. This may be called a contact list. In early instant messaging programs, each letter appeared as it was typed, and when letters were deleted to correct typos this was also seen in real time. This made it more like a telephone conversation than exchanging letters. In modern instant messaging programs, the other party in the conversation generally only sees each line of text right after a new line is started. Most instant messaging applications also include the ability to set a status message, roughly analogous to the message on a telephone answering machine.
Popular instant messaging services on the public Internet include .NET Messenger Service, AOL Instant Messenger, Excite/Pal, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, iChat, ICQ, Jabber, Qnext, QQ, Meetro, Skype, Trillian, Yahoo! Messenger and Rediff Bol Instant Messenger. These services owe many ideas to an older (and still popular) online chat medium known as Internet Relay Chat (IRC).
You can also connect to a instant messaging service with a multiprotocol instant messaging application. ( Which allows one instant messenger (IM) client to connect to multiple IM networks. )
Instant messaging typically boosts communication and allows easy collaboration. In contrast to e-mails, the parties know whether the peer is available. Most systems allow the user to set an online status or away message so peers get notified whenever the user is available, busy, or away from the computer. On the other hand, people are not forced to reply immediately to incoming messages. This way, communication via instant messaging can be less intrusive than communication via phone, which is partly a reason why instant messaging is becoming more and more important in corporate environments. However, not all popular systems allow the sending of messages to people not currently logged on (offline messages), a vital feature when to be used as a less formal e-mail replacement.
It is possible to save a conversation, so as to refer to it later, which is not possible by telephone. Also, the fact that instant messages typically get logged in a local message history closes the gap to the persistent nature of e-mails, facilitating quick, safe, and persistent exchange of information such as URLs or document snippets, which can be unwieldy when done using inappropriate media such as phone. Instant messaging has been known to greatly improve (mostly) children's typing ability[citation needed] a skill that is becoming increasingly important for the benefit of today's youth.
Instant messaging applications began to appear in the 1970s on multi-user operating systems such as UNIX, initially to facilitate communication with other users logged in to the same machine, then on the local network, and subsequently across the internet. Some of these used a peer-to-peer protocol (eg talk, ntalk and ytalk), while others required peers to connect to a server (see talkers and IRC). Because all of these protocols were based inside a console window, most of those discovering the internet in the mid-1990s and equating it with the web tended not to encounter them.
Modern GUI-based messaging clients began to take off in the late 1990s with ICQ (1996) and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM, 1997) . AOL later acquired Mirabilis, the creators of ICQ. A few years later AOL was awarded two patents for instant messaging by the U.S. patent office. Meanwhile, other companies developed their own applications (Yahoo, MSN, Excite, Ubique, IBM), each with its own proprietary protocol and client; users therefore had to run multiple client applications if they wished to use more than one of these networks.
In 2000, an open source application and open standards-based protocol called Jabber was launched. Jabber servers could act as gateways to other IM protocols, reducing the need to run multiple clients. Modern multi-protocol clients such as Gaim, Trillian and Miranda can use any of the popular IM protocols without the need for a server gateway.
Recently, many instant messaging services have begun to offer video conferencing features, Voice Over IP (VoIP) and web conferencing services. Web conferencing services integrate both video conferencing and instant messaging capabilities. Some newer instant messaging companies are offering desktop sharing, IP radio, and IPTV to the voice and video features.
The term "instant messenger" is a service mark of Time Warner[1] and may not be used in software not affiliated with AOL in the United States. For this reason, the instant messaging client formerly known as GAIM or gAIM is now only to be referred to as Gaim or gaim.
Instant messaging requires the use of a client program that hooks up an instant messaging service and differs from e-mail in that conversations are then able to happen in realtime. Most services offer a presence information feature, indicating whether people on one's list of contacts are currently online and available to chat. This may be called a contact list. In early instant messaging programs, each letter appeared as it was typed, and when letters were deleted to correct typos this was also seen in real time. This made it more like a telephone conversation than exchanging letters. In modern instant messaging programs, the other party in the conversation generally only sees each line of text right after a new line is started. Most instant messaging applications also include the ability to set a status message, roughly analogous to the message on a telephone answering machine.
Popular instant messaging services on the public Internet include .NET Messenger Service, AOL Instant Messenger, Excite/Pal, Gadu-Gadu, Google Talk, iChat, ICQ, Jabber, Qnext, QQ, Meetro, Skype, Trillian, Yahoo! Messenger and Rediff Bol Instant Messenger. These services owe many ideas to an older (and still popular) online chat medium known as Internet Relay Chat (IRC).
You can also connect to a instant messaging service with a multiprotocol instant messaging application. ( Which allows one instant messenger (IM) client to connect to multiple IM networks. )
Instant messaging typically boosts communication and allows easy collaboration. In contrast to e-mails, the parties know whether the peer is available. Most systems allow the user to set an online status or away message so peers get notified whenever the user is available, busy, or away from the computer. On the other hand, people are not forced to reply immediately to incoming messages. This way, communication via instant messaging can be less intrusive than communication via phone, which is partly a reason why instant messaging is becoming more and more important in corporate environments. However, not all popular systems allow the sending of messages to people not currently logged on (offline messages), a vital feature when to be used as a less formal e-mail replacement.
It is possible to save a conversation, so as to refer to it later, which is not possible by telephone. Also, the fact that instant messages typically get logged in a local message history closes the gap to the persistent nature of e-mails, facilitating quick, safe, and persistent exchange of information such as URLs or document snippets, which can be unwieldy when done using inappropriate media such as phone. Instant messaging has been known to greatly improve (mostly) children's typing ability[citation needed] a skill that is becoming increasingly important for the benefit of today's youth.
Instant messaging applications began to appear in the 1970s on multi-user operating systems such as UNIX, initially to facilitate communication with other users logged in to the same machine, then on the local network, and subsequently across the internet. Some of these used a peer-to-peer protocol (eg talk, ntalk and ytalk), while others required peers to connect to a server (see talkers and IRC). Because all of these protocols were based inside a console window, most of those discovering the internet in the mid-1990s and equating it with the web tended not to encounter them.
Modern GUI-based messaging clients began to take off in the late 1990s with ICQ (1996) and AOL Instant Messenger (AIM, 1997) . AOL later acquired Mirabilis, the creators of ICQ. A few years later AOL was awarded two patents for instant messaging by the U.S. patent office. Meanwhile, other companies developed their own applications (Yahoo, MSN, Excite, Ubique, IBM), each with its own proprietary protocol and client; users therefore had to run multiple client applications if they wished to use more than one of these networks.
In 2000, an open source application and open standards-based protocol called Jabber was launched. Jabber servers could act as gateways to other IM protocols, reducing the need to run multiple clients. Modern multi-protocol clients such as Gaim, Trillian and Miranda can use any of the popular IM protocols without the need for a server gateway.
Recently, many instant messaging services have begun to offer video conferencing features, Voice Over IP (VoIP) and web conferencing services. Web conferencing services integrate both video conferencing and instant messaging capabilities. Some newer instant messaging companies are offering desktop sharing, IP radio, and IPTV to the voice and video features.
The term "instant messenger" is a service mark of Time Warner[1] and may not be used in software not affiliated with AOL in the United States. For this reason, the instant messaging client formerly known as GAIM or gAIM is now only to be referred to as Gaim or gaim.
