Keep up with friends using instant messaging

Instant messaging is a way to have typed conversations with friends and colleagues. When chatting in an instant-messaging application each response travels back and forth in the blink of an eye.

What you need
Instant messaging (IM) is all about communication so, as well as a computer with internet access, you will need someone with whom you can talk.

With a willing compadre or two lined up, the next requirement is software: an instant-messaging program.

There are dozens of programs to choose from and they are almost all free of charge. There is even one built in to Windows (which we will come back to in just a moment).

However, due to commercial rivalries and plain old stubbornness, some of the best-known and most-used IM programs cannot communicate with each other.

So, for instance, if you decide to use Microsoft’s Windows Live Messenger (formerly titled MSN Messenger), because it’s right there in Windows, you will be able to communicate with contacts who use Yahoo Messenger but not with those who rely on AOL’s Instant Messenger (AIM).

Microsoft is working to get Windows Live Messenger cross-communicating with the other popular IM applications, like Google Talk, but these commercial differences have rumbled on literally for years – so don’t hold your breath for a rapid conclusion.

And while Windows Live Messenger (or MSN Messenger, depending on your version of Windows) is built in to Windows, we cannot recommend its use with good faith. Yes, it’s convenient, not to mention very popular but that’s about the best that can be said of it.

So what’s the point of even giving it a go if you later find out that people you want to talk to are using an IM program with which your application refuses to communicate?

Fortunately, it’s possible to use one IM application to communicate with users on pretty much any other network.

Easier instant messaging
One of the reasons we can’t recommend Windows’ built-in IM application, Messenger, is that it limits users to communicating with other Messenger devotees, as well as those who use Yahoo Messenger.

While access to a second network of IM users is better than some, it’s not the same as being able to have IM chats with anyone you please, regardless of their preferred program.

Step forward cross-network instant messaging tools. These are programs designed to work with all the popular IM networks and communicate with their users, so you don’t need to worry about which instant-messaging application your chat buddies are using. You just use one program to communicate with anyone – just how it should be.

In fact, there are several cross-network applications to choose from. Some are applications that you download and install onto your PC, while others exist as services on a website (so you don’t need to install anything – you just visit the website).

However, the one thing every IM program has in common, including the cross-network ones – is the need for an account with at least one IM service.