Wednesday Words: Chat

Today's word is a term not only found in social media, but in instant messaging programs that have been around since the early 2000s and that word is chat.

Chats refer to any kind of communication, or messaging, over the internet.  It traditionally refers to one-on-one messaging through a text-based client referred to as instant messaging programs.  Now days, it includes instant messaging and direct messaging that can happen through Facebook, Google+ and Twitter - where people can send private messages to one person, or to a group of people (in the case of Facebook and Google+) and have conversations with them while logged into social media accounts.

A friendly reminder: never share your passwords with anyone via chat or any other method.  I know a lot of people do this and it's just a bad idea in general.  I also suggest never talking about private or confidential information via any form of chat.  You never know when something will happen and chats become public or someone hacks an account and acquires the chat you thought was going to be private.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media.  These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media.   You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.

Wednesday Words: Direct Messaging (DM)

DM, or Direct Message, is terminology associated with Twitter.  It's a way to send someone a private, direct message, that is only viewable by that person, instead of publicly viewable when you write a tweet with @Theirname in it.

Some people will accept direct messages from anyone, others require direct messages be from people they follow and follow them back.

Be careful with direct messages though.  Often times, when twitter accounts are hacked, they will direct message everyone that can accept direct messages with a fake message and a link.  The link will look like Twitter and want you to sign in again - don't do it.  This is how they get your password then use it to spam your account.

Direct messages are a great way to communicate briefly about projects.  If more in-depth explanations are needed, stick to Facebook chat, email or other methods.

Wednesday Words are a series of definitions released on Wednesday each week regarding a word found specific to Facebook's social media platform, or may be a generic word dealing with social media.  These definitions are to help provide you with a better understanding of common and uncommon terms associated with Facebook and social media.   You can find all the Wednesday Words by clicking on the Wednesday Words tag below.