Whats the difference between e-mail, online chat, and instant messaging?
These are three different ways of communicating with other people over the Internet. To answer your question, I’ll explain each method individually. • E-mail is a way of sending individual messages to people using an e-mail server to relay the message. Because the server holds the messages for a person until he or she retrieves them, e-mail can be sent whether or not a person is online. One way to send or receive e-mail is to use a mail program such as Outlook Explorer or Mac OS X Mail that will communicate with your mail server. Another method is called Webmail (such as Hotmail or Gmail) that allows you to send messages using a Web-based interface. To send someone an e-mail message using either of these methods, you simply need to know their e-mail address. • Online Chat is a way of talking online in realtime with many people at once. Some chat rooms are available via the Web, such as Yahoo! Chat, while others require a separate software program for chatting with other users. Online c
