Page 79 - Feasibility Study of New Media Technology on Constructing Online Public Sphere

Chapter 3. Contextual Background

3.3.2 Instant messaging services

Instant Messaging (IM) is a type of online chat which offers real-time text trans-
mission over the internet. Short messages are typically transmitted bidirectionally

between two parties, when each user chooses to complete a thought and select ‘send’.
Some IM applications can use push technology to provide real-time text, which trans-
mits messages character by character, as they are composed. To make the product more

popular, many advanced IMs include added features such as file transfer, clickable
hyperlinks, voice chat and video chat. It is usually possible to save a text conversation
as message history in a local log file for later reference, which makes it similar to the

persistent nature of emails (‘Instant messaging’, 2022). Non-IM types of chat include
multicast transmission, usually referred to as ‘chat rooms’, where participants might be
anonymous or might be previously known to each other. IM systems tend to facilitate

connections between specified known users often using a contact list also known as a
‘friend list’.
IM is a set of communication technologies used for text-based communication
between two or more participants over the internet or other types of networks. IM

chat happens in real-time. An important feature that distinguishes online chat and IM
from other technologies such as email, is the perceived quasi-synchrony of the com-

munications by the users. There are many IM systems provided by different internet
companies, some of the most popular ones are iMessage (Apple Inc.), Window Live
Messenger (Microsoft Corporation) and Skype (Microsoft Corporation). In China, an
IM service called QQ is the most widely used, with at least 829 million active users per

month in 2014 (WeAreSocial, 2014).
QQ is a web-based IM platform launched by Tencent in 1999. The main platforms
for QQ users are PCs and mobile phones. QQ supports comprehensive communication

features, including online chat, file transfer, clickable hyperlinks, voice chat and vid-
eo chat. Users can easily and immediately switch IM application between computers,
mobile phones and other wireless products. QQ is available in a variety of platforms

and systems, including Microsoft Windows, OS X, Android, iOS and Windows Phone.

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