Chat services and Instant Messaging (IM) online are two tools which really opened up communications online when they were introduced. They gave the internet a widespread sense of real time communication.
I’ve tried a couple of IM applications – ICQ and MSN Messenger – as well as Facebook chat which isn’t a standalone application but works along the same principles. I’ve had a brief try of SecondLife but there is enough going on in the “real world” for me to avoid the temptation of diving deep into the “virtual world”!
One of the organised NET11 group chats on ICQ was great but unfortunately I had some troubles with ICQ, not being able to view the conversation in real time, instead I had to view the conversation history which lessened my ability to participate. It was probably something I was doing wrong, but I’ll figure it out at a later time.
I have to admit I’m not a big user of IM, but if I do need to jump on, my first choice is usually MSN Messenger. It hooks up to my Hotmail email account and includes all of my contacts from there. It appears quite similiar to ICQ in the way the user interface is used during IM, as I imagine most probably do.
Facebook Chat is a great little feature built into Facebook itself so rather than requiring a separate installation, the chat happens within your own web browser. Regardless of your operating system you can chat with your friends.
As with most IM applications, the status indicator comes in very handy at times. For example, I regularly log on with my status set to show me “Offline” so I can get my work done but also see who is online in case I need to chat with them. This helps productivity but also means you can jump into an IM conversation if required. A brilliant feature!
Online chat provides the ability to chat via text, video or audio with other users however it adds new dimensions to the web. For example, the use of emoticons (little animated smiley faces, etc) can indicate various emotions. Text characters can also be used to intimate nonverbal communication in a similiar way that body language would in a face to face conversation. This paper from The Open Polytechnic of New Zealand – An analysis of nonverbal communication in an online chat group – investigates some of the nonverbal communication that occur in online chat.
