"Instant messaging isn't a toy anymore. While IM started as a way to chat with friends, the technology is becoming an essential tool for business. It offers the convenience of e-mail and the immediacy of a phone call, as well as file transfers and voice messaging. IM is the newest way to keep in touch." (www.pcworld.com)

Instant messaging allows a person to maintain a list of people that he/she wishes to interact with. The messages arrive in real-time enabling one to receive and send messages instantly.

• Centralized set-up -- all users are connected to each other through series of servers which link to form a large network. Them the servers find the recipients PC when you send a message and routes it through the network until it reaches its destination.
  • example-- MSN Messenger
• Peer-to-peer approach -- there is a central server which keeps track of who is online and what their addresses (IP) are. The server then sends the IP addresses of everyone on your list who are logged on.
  • example-- the ICQ

• instant messages
• chat
• web links
• images
• sounds
• files
• talk
• streaming content

  INSTANT MESSAGING EXAMPLES