What Is a Chat Room?
There are many options on how to connect and interact with others over the Internet. You can email, leave a message on Web page, send an instant message or post a thought in a forum. But there is one Internet communication method that continues to rise in popularity--the chat room.
Other People Are Reading
-
Function
-
Many websites host chat rooms because they can be a great service to people who want to get a little more personal and interact with an entire group. A user logs into the hosting website's chat page (Yahoo! and AOL are two popular options). From there, the user can pick from a seemingly endless list of chat rooms grouped by topic. Those topics can range anywhere from age groups, men over 30, American politics or snail shell collectors.
Once the user picks a topic, the Web page will change to a chat room page, where messages are shown in real time. The messages come from other users that are usually listed on a side panel. Chat room users can see who specifically sent the message for all to view and, in turn, send one back.
Features
-
Some chat rooms have added features that give them a little more depth. Yahoo! allows some chat rooms to use plug-in microphones to send voice messages in real time. Other rooms allow color changes to the chatting text or an inclusion of photos in the public room.
-
Benefits
-
Chat rooms are great because they can add a bigger sense of community among people who share common interests. Instead of waiting for other users to post back and forth, a chat room user can get ideas, share thoughts or get support instantaneously. This is especially useful when it comes to debating political or social issues.
Warning
-
One of the downsides to chat rooms is that there always seems to be someone in the room who has no interest in the topic but just wants to interact in a rude manner. Many chat rooms will offer a "block user" feature so you can ignore that person. Also, minors who use chat rooms should be cautioned that some users are not as old as they say they are. Unfortunately, the Web can sometimes bring out predators that hide behind the anonymity the Internet can provide.
Size
-
Chat rooms can involve anywhere from just two users to hundreds, all communicating in the same place. Popular topics like "teens" or "men seeking women" will often split into two or three different chat rooms so as not to bog down any conversations that take place.
-
