Revised: October 13, 2000
Mailing Lists, Instant Messages, Chat, Newsgroups, Web Communities
Mailing Lists - With traditional email, the sender specifies what email addresses receive the email. The addressees are individual email addresses and/or distribution lists (the latter are collections of email addresses; distribution lists are created by the sender and reside in the sender's email program). A mailing list is similar to a distribution list, except that which email addresses are part of the list is not determined by the sender of the email, but instead by the members of the distribution list subscribing to the mailing list.
Mailing list programs such as LISTSERV, Majordomo, and ListProc respond to commands in emails sent to the mailing list programs. The exact command will vary with the mailing list programs. These commands enable the members of a mailing list to do various things. They can see which people (names and email addresses) are subscribed to the list, they can conceal their name and email address from such a listing, they can see the messages that have been sent to the list (including those that were sent prior to their joining the list), they can receive messages individually or combined in the form of a digest, they can turn off messages for a period of time, or then can unsubscribe from the list. Master lists of mailing lists are available at Liszt.com
Instant Messaging - Instant messaging permits quick one-to-one communication between people who both are logged onto the Internet at the same time and use compatible instant messaging software. There are several major contrasts with email: (1) email often arrives within a few minutes of being sent, but sometimes is delayed; instant messaging is much quicker, and therefore permits a back-and-forth dialogue, (2) email permits one-to- many communication through use of multiple addresses as addressees, or the use of distribution or mailing lists where instant messaging is one-to-one, (3) the recipient of email need not be logged onto the internet at the time the message is sent, (4) to read an email message, one has to open the email program and select the appropriate message, whereas an instant message pops up on one's screen (at least in the AOL software), and (5) the history of the messages in an instant message session between two people is maintained in a single box whereas each message would be a separate email (along with headers and footers) in a traditional email.
Because the back-and-forth quality of instant messaging only works if both are logged onto the internet, instant messaging software permits the user to maintain a "buddy list" -- the user can see instantaneously which of the people on the buddy list are logged onto the Internet at that time (unless the person has chosen to block this feature). To put someone on your buddy list, you must know their "screenname" they have chosen for instant messaging purposes.
The market leader in instant messaging is AOL, through its Instant Messenger program and its ownership of ICQ. MSN Messenger Service and Yahoo Messenger are the leading competitors to AOL. All of these instant messaging programs can be downloaded for free and are all presently incompatible with each other, although AOL and ICQ are apparently now compatible. AOL permits one to log an instant message session, so that the messages to and fro become a single text file which one could save or edit. Because instant messages can be obtrusive, AOL has provided a number of features to block undesired instant messages.
Chat - Chat is instant messaging in a communal environment, sometimes called a "chat room." Everyone in the chat room can post messages, and all messages are seen by all members. There are public chat rooms which anyone can enter, and private chat rooms where one needs to know the name of the room to enter. Chat rooms typically provide the capability to send an instant message to another person in the chat room.
The first popular chat program was Internet Relay Chat (IRC), written in 1988. To use IRC, you have to install an IRC client program on your computer, such as mIRC for Windows or Ircle for the Macintosh. With the development of web browsers, chat capabilities are now also available in through many portals such as AOL, Yahoo, MSN, etc. Web-based chat provides a graphical user interface as opposed to the text-based IRC networks. Some sites (such as MSN Hotmail) require one to download software to your computer whereas others (e.g. Yahoo! Chat) do not.
Newsgroups - Newsgroups have been around since the 1980s. Newsgroups (also known as forums, bulletin boards, or Internet discussion groups) have two major differences with mailing lists. First, mailing lists send emails to members of the list, whereas newsgroups do not; the messages are available when one chooses to access the newsgroup through a newsreader program. Second, whereas mailing lists only permit their own members to see the messages that have been sent to the group; messages in most newsgroups can be viewed by anyone with an internet connection and newsreader software, which is widely available. An example of newsreader software would the newsreader which is shipped with Netscape Communicator, and the Microsoft Outlook Express newsreader, which is part of Outlook Express.
The Liszt web directory, originally devoted to mailing lists, has added Usenet newsgroups to its directory. Using Liszt, one can read the content of many newgroups directly from your web browser.
Communities - Communities are the latest development in this panoply of communication methods. They are web-based mailing lists, with additional features like instant messaging and chat added. Examples are www.egroups.com (recently acquired by Yahoo!), MSN Communities, AOL Groups, and myFamily.com. You can create one for free simply by going to the main website of these companies. As the moderator the group, you decide certain rules (is membership open to anyone, or does the moderator approve membership? can non-members view material posted on the site? is the mailing list moderated or unmoderated?, etc.)