Instant messaging is a form of online which enables users to speak via text message in real time. An advanced form of the technology also enables people to send files, share hyperlinks and send voice notes instead of written text.
Instant messaging services are different from the traditional chat room as users are not anonymous and the technology facilitates chat between individuals who are known users. Whilst some platforms require both users to be online, others enable the possibility to send a message while one of the users is off-line and so reducing the difference between instant messaging and the traditional email.
Examples of an instant messaging service showed each character as it was being typed. This type of communication was popular in the 1980s and the 1990s. Modern instant messaging service came to prominence in the late 1990s with companies such as Yahoo and MSN beginning develop their own technologies.
Today, most instant messaging services are facilitated by popular social networks such as Facebook. The proliferation of smartphones in the 2000s increased tissue instant messaging providers as users could send messages via an Internet connection and this avoid charges imp
licated by sending a traditional text message.
The trademark Instant Messenger is a registered trademark of Time Warner and cannot be used by other companies. Therefore, they must prescribe it with a different name such as Facebook chat.
All the major providers of instant messaging networks all operate their own software and so must connect to a central client server. There are some concerns about using instant messaging from a security perspective. While there is a risk of them being infected with malware, governments are also in a constant battle with the owners of instant messaging service to try to ensure they have access to messages to intercept messages and the threat to national security.
What’s up, which is owned by Facebook, is the largest instant messaging service and is used by 1000 200 million people every month as of January 2017. Facebook Messenger is the second most popular with 900 million active users one of the notable competitors include Blackberry messenger, line and in China, we chat.
Instant messenger service which also enables voice calls is almost eliminating the need for a phone to be connected to a network provider, if one has Internet access. While competition is growing, WeChat still dominates its place as the market leader.
