ervices such as AOL, Compuserve and Prodigy offered instant messaging to their own customers, but it wasn't long before Mirablis, a company founded by four Israeli programmers, introduced ICQ, a free instant-messaging utility that anyone could use. ICQ (which was shorthand for "I seek you") used a client, which is a real-time tool that uses a software application that resides on a computer. ICQ was acquired by AOL in 1998, and is now a part of AOL's suite of online services. (Tyson, J pg 2).
             Instant Messaging, or IM for short, is a way of communicating via typing on a PC, wireless phone, or other Internet appliance or device. Using something called presence, which is the capability to alert the user to whenever somebody on their private list is online, the user can create a private chat room with another individual and exchange messages across the internet or network. IM differs from a chat room by having the conversation between only two
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