Facebook offers many applications, functions and features to make connecting with friends, family and old associates easier than ever. One of the more convenient Facebook options for catching up and socializing is their chat feature. In addition to being able to post messages to someone’s wall and comment on photos and status posts, if two people are logged in at the same time, they can also engage in an instant messaging via Facebook.
While chatting back and forth you have the ability to see if the person you are chatting with is composing a response. You can also see what else they are doing on Facebook while they are chatting. If they comment on a photo, a notification comes up in your chat window. If they add photos or post on a wall you will get to see that they have done so.
Facebook chat is still new so there are glitches occasionally but all in all it is a fun feature that makes Facebook even more user friendly than before. The following is a tutorial for using Facebook chat along with some additional options for communicating on Facebook if the instant messaging system is not going to work for you.
Log on to your Facebook account.
Side note: Chances are you already know how to log onto Facebook but, if you’ve forgotten, go to www.facebook.com. Once you are there, enter your email address and password that you chose when you created your account. If you are not sure which email it is, check where you get Facebook notifications.
Access the “Chat” function.
Once you are logged on, finding the chat function is relatively simple as it is built into your page. Additionally, the chat function does not require you to search for it or download it. You simply click on the bar in the bottom right hand corner that says “Chat” followed by a number. The number indicates how many of your friends are currently signed into their Facebook accounts and available to chat.
Select a friend to chat with and start chatting.
If you click on the chat bar, a list of friends will pop up. To start chatting with one of your friends, just click on their name. A small chat window will pop up. Simply type in what you want to say, and press “enter.” A chat window will pop up on their screen and they can respond. When they are typing in a response you will see the icon next to their name turn to a notepad.
If instant messaging isn’t an option because the person is not logged in, sending them a message via Facebook’s email system is another option. Click on their name in your friends list, and under their photo there is a link that says “Send a message”. Click on that, type in your message and press enter. When they respond you can see what your original message along with their response.
