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Online chat is real-time texting that happens over the Internet, allowing people to send and receive written messages instantly. It matters because it enables quick, direct communication between people regardless of their physical location.
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- ACM Classification Code (2012)
- 10003290
- Commons category
- Chat software
- IPA transcription
- tʃæt
- P13411
- boron
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Article
In this typical online chat program, the window to the left shows a list of contacts, and the window to the right shows a conversation between the user and one of those contacts.
Online chat is any direct text-, audio- or video-based (webcams), one-on-one or one-to-many (group) chat (formally also known as synchronous conferencing), using tools such as instant messengers, Internet Relay Chat (IRC), talkers and possibly MUDs or other online games. Online chat includes web-based applications that allow communication – often directly addressed, but anonymous between users in a multi-user environment. Web conferencing is a more specific online service, that is often sold as a service, hosted on a web server controlled by the vendor. Online chat may address point-to-point communications as well as multicast communications from one sender to multiple receivers and voice and video chat, or may be a feature of a web conferencing service.