Online chat

However, there are net dating systems[?] and other online services[?] that do not use these applications to provide chat facilities, e.g. Delphi, often relying on HTTP-based protocols instead. Sometimes these are called a chat room or chat page extending the physical metaphors of 'sites' and 'magazines' which many web services exploit.

Some of these systems also provide telephone voice mail[?] access. These are usually known generically as just chat systems.

The earliest online chat system widely used was probably the Unix talk[?] facility. The earliest one in general use was likely the French Minitel[?]. The concept took off with the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) protocol, which is considered an instant messaging tool.