There are two IMs (Instant Messengers) to choose from:

Simple Messenger

• appears in the bottom righthand corner along bottom menu
• flashes red when new message is received
• uses colour coding system (as explained above) to indicate online status
• expands upwards when clicked on (think Facebook)
• text based only
• contains a link to the video messenger
• displays a profile picture of person you are talking with
• displays their status update message

To start chatting with someone using the Simple Messenger, they must of course be online. Look for a yellow sphere in the top right hand corner of their picture/avatar. If you place the cursor over their picture and wait a couple of seconds, a small window with a selection of buttons will pop up. If they are online then at the bottom of that window you will see the word 'Chat' with a field to enter your message. Click on that empty field, type your message and hit the 'Enter' key on your keyboard. You should be able to do this in most areas of the site with the exception of the shoutbox and the forum.

The best place to see who is online and then start a chat is by hovering the cursor over 'People' on the uppermost menu and then click on 'Online' in the dropdown.

Video Messenger

• appears in a detached window that can be moved to any part of your screen
• audible alert when new message is received
• chat using either text, audio or video (microphone and webcam are necessary for audio/video chat)
• send and receive files
• controls for what the other person sees or hears from you are around your own picture
• controls for what you see or hear from the other person are around their picture