What's the best way to chat online?

One of the major areas in which the internet has changed many peoples' lives is communication. From email to social networks and instant messaging, it's now easier to get in touch with people than ever before - no matter where they live.



If you have friends or relatives living far away, you no longer have to rely on expensive long-distance calls or slow postal services to share your thoughts and feelings. It's now as easy as switching on your computer and signing into a messaging service to see whether your friends are available to chat. But with so many different types of online chat services, it can take practice and experimentation to learn which ones are best suited to you.



Email has been around for as long as the internet, and represents a marked improvement over traditional 'snail mail' for sending timely information, images and other documents. However, email can often seem a little impersonal, making it a less preferable option for many people looking for an informal chat.



Speaking with friends and other contacts via your computer's microphone, a headset or other input device can offer a much more personalised option, but this can also make it less preferable for people who don't know each other too well. The same goes for webcams, which offer an even more revealing insight into the person you're talking to, by displaying you both on each other's screens.



While it may lack the casual ease of speaking, instant messaging has emerged as a strong contender for favourite method of communicating online, especially with shorthand and abbreviations meaning that typing messages to your contacts can be even easier than sending a text message with your mobile phone.



If you're unsure of which method of chatting you prefer - or you enjoy having the option to vary your style depending on mood and situation - signing up with a service that offers all three could be the best solution, so you can choose to dial your friends or open a text chat window as you prefer.



There are a few important things to remember when chatting online though. Some of these are applicable to all types of phone calls - such as being aware of the difference in time zones, which can mean your contacts will still be asleep when you're awake and ready to talk. Other potential dangers are unique to the internet, such as the difficulty of knowing exactly who you're talking to. For this reason, it's safest to avoid giving too many details to strangers, and to keep alert for scam artists.