chat rooms

Tools and processes for online, persistent, asynchronous conversations, accessible by a community. Typically, a user posts an article or question, and other users post comments.

Especially in more social networking environments, the content in chat rooms is immediate, and there is a tremendous social premium put on recent informaiton. This is in part because users return often, they want the newest information. The newest entries are listed first by default. Even if users choose to look for the highest rated content, it is still often within the context of last 24 hours or last week.

In some environments, users get points for posting. Pictures or other forms of avatars might accompany a post.