How To Get The Best From Your Instant Messenger Service

Instant messengers, commonly referred to as an IM, are very popular ways to communicate. But they do so much more than just allow people to chat. And in a world where so many families live apart and may not see each other for months at a time, IM programs can make keeping in touch much easier.

The primary function of an IM program is chat. In the earliest versions of these programs, people would enter text into a window and press the 'send' button or the 'enter' key. This would send the text to the person at the other end of the conversation.

As time went on, other features were added and IM programs started to compete with each other. No longer was it just text chat, but a far more rich experience.

Commonly, the big IM programs now will allow you to:

• Send files.
• Send photos.
• Select themes that can be personalized per friend in your contacts list.
• Use small images, called 'emoticons' to show emotion in conversation.
• Transmit webcam images during a chat.
• Use a microphone to have a real time voice conversation.

There are IM programs available for many different services, and many different platforms. The common services are Yahoo, MSN, AIM, and Google Chat. Each has it's own messenger, and this means that if you have many friends, using different services, that you can end up running too many programs to manage.

This is where multi-service IM programs come in. Programs like Trillian for Windows and Pidgin for Linux will let you connect to all of the IM services at once, through one single interface. They allow you to add new friends to your contact list.