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CHAT consists of virtual rooms one can logon to according to one's various interests and type back and forth to one another with several different people. In this setting, more often than not, the people do not know each other and are chatting based on shared interest or demographic. Some chat rooms run off of an instant messenger platform, meaning that if two people would like to continue chatting in a private setting, one can instant message the other and they and instant message. Which leads me to...

INSTANT MESSAGING is a free service offered by several major providers. The user must first download some simple software, and then after creating a screen name and password, he/she is free to create a buddy list, which is a list of his/her friends who are also users of the same instant messaging service. Every time the user signs in, the user will see when his/her friends are online and can IM (instant message) them.

FORUM A forum is almost like chat, as it is organized according to interests, like weight loss, music, hobbies, etc, but instead of live chat, users post messages to a message board as a means of communication.

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