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An Introduction to Text Messaging
By Deryck Richards
Managing Partner
DESKTRONIX
desktronix.com
Why Text?
Text messaging is a quick way to stay in touch with people for personal or business purposes. With text messaging, you can chat with a partner by typing on the keyboard and reading what they write to you on the screen. Many text messaging products can work with cell phone text messaging (aka SMS or Short Messaging Service) so you can chat with people who aren’t in front of their computer. So, why not just pick up the phone and talk?
It’s faster than e-mail and phone calls. And you don’t have to pay anything to text. If you need to chat with someone briefly or ask a quick question, it’s much less intrusive than calling someone. As with most developing technologies, several types of text messaging are available and each one is incompatible with the others. But don’t let that keep you from trying it out. The main text messaging products are ICQ (www.icq.com), MSN Messenger (www.msn.com), AIM (www.aim.com), and Yahoo Messenger (www.yahoo.com).
btw (By the Way...)
Each one is free and simple to download, install, and sign up. You can locate your “buddies” by searching in an online directory by their screen name, e-mail address, name, or telephone number. Once you get the hang of it, text messaging can be extremely addictive. As you continue to use text messaging, you will find yourself learning to abbreviate words and sentences. When you leave an online chat, you might say BRB (Be Right Back), I’m afk (away from the keyboard), or TTYL (Talk to You Later). See glossary below.
Some text messaging products are beginning to offer voice and video chat. The future of digital communication is an integrated product, since voice, video, interactive text messaging, and e-mail are all effective means of communication. In the future, you will be able to switch between text, voice, and video with ease. Until then, we will continue to use different methods for different communication needs :-(
Glossary
| :-) | Smiley face. Means that someone is happy |
| ;-) | Smiley face with wink. |
| :-( | If someone sends you this in an e-mail, they’re probably not having a good day |
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| BTW | By the Way |
| FYI | For Your Information |
| FWIW | For What It’s Worth |
| IMHO | In My Humble Opinion (or IMO) |
| TIA | Thanks in Advance |
| WRT | With Respect To |
| LOL | Laughing Out Loud |
| ROTFL | Rolling on the Floor Laughing |
| AFK | Away From Keyboard |
| TTYL | Talk To You Later |
| CYA | See You Later |
About the Author
Deryck Richards is the founder and managing partner of Desktronix. With an extensive background in computer information systems, Deryck manages hosting and data center operations for Desktronix. He also provides system administration and technical support to small businesses as he has since 2000. For more information on Deryck Richards and Desktronix, visit desktronix.com.
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Reader Q
About every couple of months I answer readers' relationship questions. I try to answer questions in such a way as to both serve the person asking the question, while also sharing with all readers some relationship truth or principle I see as the underlying question. This month I am also adding a . . .
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