Depending on the IM protocol, the technical architecture can be peer-to-peer (direct point-to-point transmission) or client–server (an IM service center retransmits messages from the sender to the communication device). IM can also consist of conversations in ' chat rooms'. a wider social media platform, or a website where it can for instance be used for conversational commerce. Instant messaging systems tend to facilitate connections between specified known users (often using a contact list also known as a 'buddy list' or 'friend list'), and can be standalone applications or integrated into e.g. Most modern IM applications (sometimes called 'social messengers', 'messaging apps' or 'chat apps') use push technology and also add other features such as emojis (or graphical smileys), file transfer, chatbots, voice over IP, or video chat capabilities.

It differs from email in that conversations over instant messaging happen in real-time (hence 'instant'). Messages are typically transmitted between two or more parties, when each user inputs text and triggers a transmission to the recipient(s), who are all connected on a common network. Instant messaging ( IM) technology is a type of online chat allowing real-time text transmission over the Internet or another computer network.

A classic example of instant messaging on a desktop computer: the left window of this software showing a list of contacts (' buddy list') and the right window an active IM conversation

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