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Online communication has revolutionized the way we connect with each other but it can be a very confusing technological world to explore. A whole new, industry-specific jargon has been created to reference various aspects of the internet media. So what IS the difference between chat, instant messaging and forums?

Forums
Forums are built into many average community websites.

Sometimes referred to as billboards or message boards, they are often a collection of topics and titles. Forums are divided into categories, topics, threads, and posts. Most forums require membership and each new reply by a member is called a post. When a member posts the initial entry for a conversation they create a thread to which other members can reply.

When the internet was in its infancy connection speeds were slow and files sizes were clunky and cumbersome. Forums were created as a way to communicate that required a simple design and functionality. It was a time insensitive medium with messages available from post date well into the future and hours or even days between responses.

Forums maintain information server-side'. This means that all the information inside the forum is held in a large database owned by the website owners and stored on the same servers that hold the individual web pages for that site. Forums have developed into simple systems that most average web hosts can maintain and provide an effective means of long term communication across a broad audience. They provide a wealth of archived information for all users to access at any time and all members have the opportunity to contribute to the conversations and topics.

Instant Messaging
People wanted a means to communicate more immediately on the net with their friends and family so larger internet savvy companies developed instant messaging. Instant messaging is often done from a console, like Yahoo Messenger or MSN Messenger. These are small programs downloaded onto your computer. When connected to the internet these programs monitor the activity and availability of members via usernames.

You can communicate in real time with people all around the world by typing text into a small window and clicking send. Messengers are designed to pop up conversation windows with users where two people can communicate by sending text back and fourth. These days, instant messenger services are more advanced incorporating photo/file sharing and conferencing that allows multiple users (usually by invitation only) to join a conversation,

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