chat rooms
Online conversation spaces
Chat rooms are online spaces where multiple users exchange text messages in real time.
Popular in the 1990s and early 2000s, they allowed strangers to gather around shared interests or just to socialize: I met my husband in an AOL chat room.
The format has largely given way to social media and messaging apps, though chat rooms persist in gaming and specialized communities.
- IRCText-based chat protocol
- instant messagingLive online text communication
- lurkingConcealed and watchful
- netiquetteInternet conduct standards
- AIMDiscontinued messaging platform
virtual communities · social media · dial-up · forums · chatrooms · connection · screen names · ASL · internet · buddy list · real name · channels · private message · message board · Usenet · anonymity · trolls · strangers
- online communitiesforum, online communities, discussion board, forums, message board
- online spaceswebsite, websites, webpage, web pages, web page
- forumsforums, community forums, online forums, discussion groups, public forums
- chat roomschatrooms, channels, IRC, lobby, instant messaging
- BBSBBS, sysop, modem, dial-up, message board
- digital communicationemail, internet, texting, messaging, SMS
chat roomsvideo calls
Live audiovisual communication
video conferencing · phone calls · voice chat · in-person meetings · FaceTime
chat roomsface-to-face interaction
Communication with physical presence
meeting rooms · coffee shops · town squares · community centers · living rooms
chat roomsprivate messages
Non-public digital communications
direct messages · encrypted messaging · closed meetings · confidential communication · whisper networks